Mom's Graveside Service in St. George

Got up fairly early this morning and dressed warmly… the graveside service was around 30 degrees at 10am!! It was a beautiful service and several people came to share it with us! Tracy and Stuart and Jason and Camille and their 3 kids, Julie and Sherrie Gunnell, Becky and Craig and Bill and Donna Blankenagel… were some that came. Bill talked about sacred places and asked Braden to talk about his experiences going to see Papa at his grave when he was experiencing depression and how that became a sacred place for him. It IS a sacred place where both of them now rest! There was a sweet feeling there although I was also so overcome with the grief of missing mom! I could barely sing the hymn “God Be With You Til We Meet Again”. We lingered for quite a while visiting and taking pictures. John’s grave is just down a bit from mom and dads so we went and looked at that one too. We went to a family dinner after at Magleby’s and it was so good to just visit with everyone! Julie and Sherrie came and we sure had fun catching up and reminiscing!! We can always just pick right up where we left off like no time has passed. We said our goodbyes and then went to see mom's house in Bloomington— Bill knocked on the door and the owners hesitantly let us in and we got to look around!! Wow! So many memories. It has changed a lot and yet hasn’t! It made me a bit sad but also happy to feel close to mom in kind of a weird way??!! It is such a beautiful home! After that we went to Braden and Courteney’s house and visited and Robin and Allison met up with us there. (They were checking on selling some of moms art.) It was fun to visit with them! Then we all went for ice cream at Nielsens frozen custard— dad loved that place! It was good and we had fun visiting and just being together! After we all headed back to Blankenagel’s for an intense and hilarious game of Mafia— seriously one of the funnest I’ve played! What a fun memory!! It was nice to forget about the worries and just have fun!!  Today was so nourishing for me!  I needed to feel what I felt today last week at Mom's funeral and couldn't for whatever reason.  I'm so glad I felt it today and just being with family all day was just what I needed!