"Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes, shine through the gloom and point me to the stars. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me..."
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This hymn normally blows me away, even the introductory notes will have me dissolving into a pool of tears, but yesterday at Hannah's funeral, surrounded by non-Victory attendees, I sang my heart out. It did not matter if I was sniffling because all were sniffling from crying. Unfortunately I could not lend my voice and support to the choir because I was not able to attend the rehearsal. With their small number, accompanied by Suzanne on the viola and Rachel on piano, they sang beautifully, truly heartfelt. The other congregational hymn was not familiar to me, I am thinking it came from their songbook, Worship and Praise. Since I did not know it, I did not sing out, but did manage to do so on a familiar hymn, "Abide With Me". Stephanie said she could hear me from the back of the church and I was about halfway up.
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Ed was in charge of parking the cars, even loading up the lawn area in the rear of the property. First he beautified the property, weeded the beds, pruned the shrubs, and edged the lawns, and then parked cars on it. His wife, Judy, was inside making sure the meal preparations were arranged. When I arrived just before two p.m., I met Rita, who used be a member at G.S., in the parking lot. She was leaving and not coming back for the service, but had been busy in the kitchen with Judy and Toni. She gave me some money for Judy and told me she would know what it was for. Later I found out it was toward the purchase of a tree in Hannah's memory so I threw in for that as well.
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Anne and I walked in together, with her ahead of me. When she was done with her expression of sorrow to the parents, she introduced me, but evidently she did not have to. At least the mom, Beth, knew who I was....Because of this cold, I warned people ahead of time about it and if they still wanted to hug, it was on them, so to speak. Most still wanted to hug, including the parents of Hannah. Later I was able to talk alone with each of them and told them about the freeze drying of the flowers if they want to do that. Also I sent the link through Anne's e-mail so they can get it from her as well. Mine means so much to me, my memory box with the flowers on the cover, and I did not want them to miss out on the opportunity to do the same. In Hannah's 'obit', it mentions how at age two she jumped into the swimming pool and had to be rescued by her uncle, which gave me chills.
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Before the service was the visitation time with the parents and Hannah's sister greeting at the doors. Folks were ushered into the church proper then to watch a powerpoint-style presentation of Hannah's life in pictures, with music in the background. I was glad to be there early enough because of the shortage of seating and parking. Some nurses were seated next to me on the right, and on the left were teachers. Classmates with their moms were in front of me. The one lady to my left was certain she knew me from somewhere but could not figure out where, and when I told her I live in OP, she then knew she must be mistaken. At one point during the service, she asked if I wanted a tissue, because the tears were just running like a faucet (not my nose) but I assured her I had some, then dug one out for good measure. I told her I usually just let them flow, with no further explanation needed. She was very nice and I am glad she is a teacher.
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After the service, we were ushered outside to hear the bells ring and to launch balloons, the young people did that. Hannah's dream was to ring the bells some day and Ed was quite emotional as John and he pulled the ropes. Later, when we sat down to eat, he told me that he had stayed outside the entire time. He said he was 'busy' but I am of the mind that he just needed to stay outside and mourn by himself. The ham sandwiches were absolutely delicious and makes me hungry right now for one! Hmmm...I believe I have some ham in the freezer, leftover from Easter---I should go and pull that out for later on!
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They had a head count of 350 people yesterday, with folks standing along the sides and in the back, perhaps even in the narthex, I could not see from my seat. Pastor's sermon included some of the current news, comparing the rescue of the miners from their grave in the earth with our rescue by Jesus from our 'grave' on the earth. He mentioned the baptism of Hannah's mom with her two daughters in 2001, washed with the water and the Word in the name of the Trinity. I would like to see if he has a hard copy of that sermon I can look at again, because my ears were sort of thundering at the time, if you know what I mean. Pastor Hoyer, after the service, got busy with a bunch of guys, hustling tables and chairs around to convert the church into the fellowship hall so folks could sit down to eat. He was as bad as Ed, keeping busy and making sure everything was set up. Or as good as Ed, I should say.
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On my way out the door, I took along an apple square on a paper plate and a can of Diet Coke, leaving the ladies with my thanks for their excellent service for this funeral. I might even ask for the recipe for the pasta salad made with spicy pepperoni that Kerri brought. Man, that was so delicious. She works at a fancy restaurant in Jax as a baker, making wonderful decedent desserts.
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It felt good to get home, and I made a concerted effort to just rest once back here. My eyes, which still feel like pokers, were sore and felt tender from the crying and the cold, so sleep was welcome. Unfortunately, I found myself awake and quite stuffed up before 5:00 a.m., which means an afternoon rest (aw, shucks!) before meeting Penny at the cabana for dinner today. The end is near, soon the cabana will be closed for the season, and then what will poor robin do then? Penny said we have to come up with a plan and a place to meet on Fridays once they close the cabana. I would love to have folks up here, of course, but am not sure about the food portion of that event....
