Grandmother's Funeral

This past week I went to NC for my Grandmother's funeral from Tuesday to Friday. Sadly, it was a much quicker trip than I would have liked and it was an extremely sad occasion. However, I was so happy to be able to be there to show my love for my Grandmother and to be with my family, esp. my mother. I was given the great honor, along with my sisters and mother, to be able to speak at the funeral. Normally I am a good off-the-cuff type of speaker, but am I ever glad that I decided to write down my thoughts. After listening to my mother speak and then my two sisters, I was an absolute wreck and could barely make it through my talk. Thankfully, both God and Grandmother were looking down on us and blessing us, because Samantha didn't make a peep even though she was wide awake. As always, Samantha was wonderful! :)

The blessing of a funeral is that it brings together family you haven't seen in awhile. It is sad that it sometimes takes such occasions to do so, but I did get to see a lot of my extended family and share in some great memories of Grandmother. There was a lot of laughter and smiles amongst the tears. I think Grandmother would like that. She lived a grand life and even though we were all sad, we celebrated that as well as mourned it.

Tia came in that week with me as well and brought her 4 year old Maddie - who just turned 4 today by the way -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE!! My other sister lives there near my Mom with her 3 kids - Danielle, Grace and Allyson - so, we got to spend some quality time together and introduce all the children who had yet to meet Samantha. Maddie esp. took to Samantha and before long, was her entertainment committee and her caretaker - constantly, taking care of her "leaking" (as she liked to call it) with the burp cloth.

I got to spend some great time with my Mother and father. I cherish those moments so much. It does make me realize even more though, how much I miss everyone!!! It was definitely hard to leave on Friday!

Nonetheless, we still managed to squeeze in some pictures from my time there -- see below! I might post more later, but here are some glimpses of our time together.