the cemetery, the stone....Todd's good-bye part 3
Aren't you all just waiting to hear what I am up to tonight? I'm sure you are. (insert sarcasm).....well you get it either way because on these days I need to write before I can sleep.
Presently I am playing lullabies in the bed beside Josiah. It is really late and he is trying to go to sleep but he wants to talk about Uncle Todd in the casket and what is a cemetery......and that he loves him and he is sad that he is gone.....I am also trying decide what to say tomorrow at the funeral. I was asked to share a few words. I feel like I am better one on one, or better yet, fingers on keyboard typing late at night. Nonetheless.....I will stand up in front of everyone who came to say good-bye once more to Todd and open my mouth.....and something will fall out of it. Lets hope it is worthy words.
He deserves worthy words. He lived such an important life. It strikes me now that part of what made his life important was the amount of suffering he endured on Earth. The suffering alone would have been notable....but it was the grace he showed that mattered. He could say on any day of his life, "it could be worse"......but really......
Josiah just said to me, "Mommy, even God has a stone." (back to the cemetery discussion.). Me: " what do you mean buddy? how does God have a stone?" Josiah: "Its the cross. The cross is his stone. But we just get a stone." holy buckets....he is right. The cross is Jesus' stone. His marker. His identifier. This little dude.....my baby boy.....he understand a lot. He would be mad right now if he knew I was sharing. He told me lately he doesn't want me to share his "secrets" aka sweet things he says.....but I think this is an exception.
Tonight after the visitation we went to a family friend and had some food. The littlest cousins played and got familiar and comfortable....and after dark they caught fireflies in mason jars. The older cousins talked about deeper things, because we are the generation between the little kids and the original 8 siblings.....and the 7 siblings, with their spouses, told stories and laughed and remembered sweet and important things from their life with their little brother. I really miss my grandma. She would have loved tonight. She would have loved hearing the stories from her children, and watching her adult grand kids connect, and most of all, watching the great-grands run and play in the grass, catching fireflies after dark.
Tomorrow we will have the church funeral and then travel to the cemetery for burial and lay uncle Todd "to rest". ( Man, I hate that term. ) Eventually there will be a headstone where he is buried, and it will tell his birthday and death day, because that is what markers do. But really......I kind of feel like our time tonight was his marker. We are his people, and our memories tell his story. The generations of love and family and friends who bear witness to a life lived well are the real stone.
Presently I am playing lullabies in the bed beside Josiah. It is really late and he is trying to go to sleep but he wants to talk about Uncle Todd in the casket and what is a cemetery......and that he loves him and he is sad that he is gone.....I am also trying decide what to say tomorrow at the funeral. I was asked to share a few words. I feel like I am better one on one, or better yet, fingers on keyboard typing late at night. Nonetheless.....I will stand up in front of everyone who came to say good-bye once more to Todd and open my mouth.....and something will fall out of it. Lets hope it is worthy words.
He deserves worthy words. He lived such an important life. It strikes me now that part of what made his life important was the amount of suffering he endured on Earth. The suffering alone would have been notable....but it was the grace he showed that mattered. He could say on any day of his life, "it could be worse"......but really......
Josiah just said to me, "Mommy, even God has a stone." (back to the cemetery discussion.). Me: " what do you mean buddy? how does God have a stone?" Josiah: "Its the cross. The cross is his stone. But we just get a stone." holy buckets....he is right. The cross is Jesus' stone. His marker. His identifier. This little dude.....my baby boy.....he understand a lot. He would be mad right now if he knew I was sharing. He told me lately he doesn't want me to share his "secrets" aka sweet things he says.....but I think this is an exception.
Tonight after the visitation we went to a family friend and had some food. The littlest cousins played and got familiar and comfortable....and after dark they caught fireflies in mason jars. The older cousins talked about deeper things, because we are the generation between the little kids and the original 8 siblings.....and the 7 siblings, with their spouses, told stories and laughed and remembered sweet and important things from their life with their little brother. I really miss my grandma. She would have loved tonight. She would have loved hearing the stories from her children, and watching her adult grand kids connect, and most of all, watching the great-grands run and play in the grass, catching fireflies after dark.
Tomorrow we will have the church funeral and then travel to the cemetery for burial and lay uncle Todd "to rest". ( Man, I hate that term. ) Eventually there will be a headstone where he is buried, and it will tell his birthday and death day, because that is what markers do. But really......I kind of feel like our time tonight was his marker. We are his people, and our memories tell his story. The generations of love and family and friends who bear witness to a life lived well are the real stone.
Thank you for sharing. We first met Todd at a YaTec. He knew and was known by God.
ReplyDeletePraying for you and your extended family today.
Love in Christ,
Barb Hibma