This was our girls' first experience with losing a loved one. Jorja took it quite hard, as did Ginny. CeCe was upset, but not as emotional as the other two. But even at the supper table yesterday, she said, 'I sure miss great granny.'
As a family, we went to say our final goodbyes the night before the funeral at the family viewing. We knew this would be hard, but we gave the girls the freedom to mourn however they seemed fit. In between her own tears, Jorja made her rounds and tried to comfort others, especially Julie's uncle who lived with and cared for his mother at the end. Ginny cried a lot too and did her share of hugging. CeCe asked questions like, 'she's not going to talk anymore?' followed by 'that's not good' when she got the answer. 'She's like sleeping beauty?' and 'I want her to wake up' and ' I miss her'. All the girls took turns spending some last minutes with great granny, crying, holding her hand. CeCe pulled a chair up and was just hanging out for quite a while. It's quite something to see the innocence of a child.
The picture is a little grainy because I cropped a lot of it out for this post but this is how CeCe spent her time. When Julie asked her if she was ready to go, CeCe replied, 'just five more minutes.' She's quite the kid.
The funeral and interment were hard too, but the girls did great. Julie played piano in a very touching final tribute to her grandma. It was a cool day, but quite lovely as a gentle snow fell on us.
We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with Julie's parents and brother and sister in law. Remembering, crying, laughing.
Our final stop was church on Sunday morning. I've been visiting their church for about 13 years now, and more often than not, granny would be up at the organ. This was her spot.
Now it's empty as Jesus has called home one of his children. No more pain. No more suffering. Just eternal glory.
Later.
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