Gentle Reminders

July 24th, 2010

Our Saturday started early and a little tearful. We attended a memorial service for a friend we’d made over the years at church. Smiles and comments every Sunday morning coupled with frequent run-ins on errands around town made for a sort of unspoken friendship between our family and hers. I have been surprised by how much the loss has affected me. Realizing I won’t be seeing that bright welcoming face every week brings tears to my eyes. Although we never had lengthy conversations with her, I know she is that type of mother, wife, and servant of God that I hope to grow into. I wonder if she knew her warmth could be felt so easily, that her openness would have such an influence on others. She was so inspiring, and I will miss her very much.

I have only been to a few other services for lost loved ones, my grandma’s funeral being the most vivid when I was about ten years old. I didn’t know how this service would be, if I would be able to contain myself, if it would be uncomfortable. (Because being there among her close friends and family, I didn’t know if we would feel out of place.) But I am so glad we were there. We joined a row of our other 9am Sunday mass friends in one of the back pews and paid our respects to her and support to her beautiful family. She touched our blooming family greatly, every week, and I’m happy we were there to say goodbye and celebrate her uniting with God in heaven. And I am so so thankful for the community we have found ourselves in through our church.

(Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making me go to my weekly religious ed. classes {even though I dreaded it every week, I am grateful now, that I was there}, and for raising me in that very same church I will raise my family in. It is like a safe home for me, and I can’t imagine not having that relationship with God and our community.)

Mid-post-dinner-cleanup this evening I decided to venture out back among the bugs and weeds for a few glimpses of the sky. The air looked purple and ultra constrast-y. It was a nice calmness to round out a meaningful day.