Quite a Week

This has been quite a week for us. Greg is doing very well, with all the preparations for the memorial service Sunday. I can tell, though, that he is needing a little break away for rest. Me, well, all this is pretty new to me. I didn't get the opportunity to be involved in memorial services when I worked at the church, other than scheduling ushers for one service. I've been surprised at the number of details involved in this, it's almost like a wedding.

We had one special request from her sisters. That she be sprinkled with Holy Water. Not being Catholic, this was a surprise. It was too late for Last Rights from a priest when the request came in, but her sisters felt it was important, though she didn't consider herself Catholic anymore.

We inquired at one of the churches that we do landscaping for, and were able to obtain a bottle of Holy Water. Yesterday afternoon we went down to the mortuary and after a brief preparation, were allowed to go in for Greg to sprinkle the Holy Water on Ana. I had been holding up pretty well until then, but when I saw her, it hit me. Ana really wasn't on this earth anymore. Like I said in a previous post, she had a very strong presence on this earth and it was surreal that she was gone. I couldn't approach her. I stayed by the door and let Greg go forward pray and sprinkle. As we left the building the tears finally came. I missed her deeply.

We got in the truck and headed for the Hoggatt's to pick up the scriptures Steven wanted to read at the service. I had to try and pull myself together in less than 5 minutes, before walking into a room full of people who had already gone through this and so much more. Greg said he wouldn't take me to any more of these types of situations. I told him I wanted him to because I needed to be de-sensitized to this. He said he didn't want me de-sensitized. I do feel I need to be more comfortable with this situation, though, as God may put me in more difficult situations than this and I need to be a little more strong, not stoic, but a little stronger to help the family. It was hard to sleep last night, seeing her in my thoughts most of the night.

Today I'm still sad. I had a good conversation with Greg last night about how he is able to be near a body and not be affected. He went through what it was like with his uncle, Grandmother, and first wife. I talked about how I was with the open casket funerals of a boyfriend, my grandmother, and someone I didn't know. I trust God will toughen me up, just enough to do this well. Sometimes God prepares you on your journey before he calls you, and sometimes, it's on the job training.

Blessings on this cooler Friday. I will try and get to the Old Testament Era 2 next week, hopefully when life slows just a bit. Being before our launch August 2nd, no promises.