Full Souls

Bless all of you for sitting through some of these posts I write more for posterity than anything else. You're sweet friends.

Yesterday was Ryan's mom's viewing, and we've heard that somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 people came through the church to pay their respects. We know that most waited two or more hours to greet us, and that was a mind-blowing blessing. 

I wanted to be sure to get a picture of us at the viewing, and I feared we would forget if we didn't do it pretty much the moment we arrived, so one of the kids hanging out in the nursery took this for us:

Doesn't Ryan look handsome? She would have thought so, I know. My outfit was chosen for the following reasons: first and foremost, I knew I'd be so hot in that packed church with emotions packed on top of that, so I had to find something very cool. All day long people asked me if I was cold. No. Hot, actually, and sweaty and smelly. I thought this dress looked very much like something she would have loved, though. I wore the necklace she gave me for my birthday several years ago, and my shoes are 100% silver glitter. She loved bling, so it seemed a fitting tribute.

Ryan's sister and sister-in-law did a magnificent job of making a very Nita-esque display in the back of the church:

There were many beautiful flowers, which she absolutely would have loved. (And I love them too. Another thing she and I had in common!) 

The family received visitors for about six straight hours, and it was wonderful food for the soul to hear people's stories and memories.

None of them were more or less important than any others, but here are a few highlights that I thought were interesting.

* Nita's third grade teacher came! She had a photo of the class, too. (And a couple of Nita's classmates happened to end up in line with her, even though they hadn't coordinated their visit.)

* The doctor who delivered both Ryan and me came through the line. His wife was one of Nita's hospice nurses, but as soon as he told me his name, I said, "YOU DELIVERED ME!!!!" 

* Though I had never heard of such a thing until this week, there is a Nurse's Honor Guard, and they came to stand watch at the casket for the duration of the viewing. There were four of them, dressed all in white (with caps) and they rotated in and out for the entire time.

* Several came through line who said they had been her neighborhood friends back when she was a kid!

We were humbled by the number of friends who came and sat through the long wait just to give us a hug. Nita would have loved seeing that turnout. And so many commented that the size of the crowd was a tribute to the woman she was. 

We know that today will be a very hard day...saying the final goodbye. But our souls are full of the joy of yesterday. It was indeed a time of celebration for a life well lived.