What A Wonderful Family

Hi All,
It's been a few days but my family and I wanted to thank everyone for coming to Dad's funeral service and to the American Legion afterwards. It was a beautiful service....I think it was just the way Dad would have wanted. Wonderful readings, beautiful songs and a few laughs sprinkled in (whether intended or not). :)

I wanted to thank Gary and Brian for being brave enough to read. They did a great job and we were all really proud of them. Thanks Uncle Dave for also being a part of the service. Yes...you're alive and kicking. :) Thanks also to Aunt Rita, Aunt Diane, Aunt Toni, Aunt Diana and Aunt Judy for helping with communion. An extra special thanks to Aunt Joy for working so closely with Turtle and Susie (and all of us) to enable such a beautiful Mass. We love you all! A big thanks goes out to Tammy Martin for all of your help at the American Legion.

We are truly blessed to have such a big, loving family who comes together in times of need. It was so nice seeing everyone! You have no idea how much it means to us to have everyone we care about there to support us. Family and friends!

My Mom is doing great and we've been able to spend lots of time together. I always thought our family was close but it's times like these that show me how important family really is. I know Aunt Cookie was looking for a silver lining in this dark cloud and I think it's that this experience has brought us even closer together as a family.

I've looked at the slideshow on this blog about 50 times but it brought tears to my eyes this morning. I already miss my Dad and it's so hard to talk about him in the past tense. I went golfing with my Mom yesterday and she was talking about a golf course that she and my Dad had been meaning to get to but they ran out of time. I know it's very hard on us kids but it's got to be extra hard on my Mom. She spent over 50 years with my Dad....wow! She misses him greatly. She'll be leaving on Friday morning to go back to Florida. Aunt Sandy and Uncle John are going to a condo in Tennesee this weekend and were kind enough to offer to let my Mom stay a night with them. So the plan right now is for her to follow them to Tenn, spend the night with them and then continue on her journey home on Saturday. Thank you Aunt Sandy and Uncle John! I know that makes all of us feel better about Mom driving home. We tried to talk Mom out of driving home but she says we shouldn't be worried about her and that she'll be fine.....she has AAA and a cellphone so she insists she'll be fine. We're not ready for her to leave yet but we also know she'll be fine in Florida. She has lots and lots of great friends so she'll be well taken care of.

I'm like Michele in that I was surprised about the number of people who read the blogs. Thanks for the encouragement and support. I was asked by more than a few folks to keep this blog going in order to keep everyone updated on family stuff. I'll certainly try to do that.

Thanks again for all of your love and support. It truly makes a difference.

Love,
Theresa