* Last Sunday, Ryan and I helped serve communion at our church. We came home to a beautiful, blissful, lazy afternoon. I finished our anniversary scrapbook and Braeya cuddled up with Ryan. She was so excited that Deuce had gone home and she could have her favorite person back.
* I spent Monday cooking up a storm (three cheers for the blueberry muffins!) and doing chores around the house, and that night we went out to Ryan's mom's house for our normal shift with her. We did not know it would be our last one. Several family members came out during the early part of the evening, but when they went home, he had three hours alone with her, and he soaked up every minute. She knew us that night, looked us in the eye, called us by name, and told us she loved us.
* Tuesday was our little great-niece's first birthday, so at lunch, we wanted to record a birthday greeting for her. I accidentally forgot to switch the phone from camera to video, so I took the dorkiest picture of us, and then that made us laugh. I don't know why I like this picture so much, but I do! (We got this picture of the birthday girl on her big day, so I wanted to include it, since we didn't get to see her in person.) Ryan wanted to go back to his mom's that night, so we went out, saw this gorgeous sunset on the way, and less than an hour after we arrived at her home, she passed away, surrounded by many of her family members. We stayed until after midnight, saying final goodbyes and trying to wrap our minds around the fact that she was actually gone.
* Ryan didn't work the rest of the week, so Wednesday morning I wrote Nita's obituary and Ryan just tried to take stock of his feelings and all that was happening. We met his sister and brother (and their families) for lunch and then went to the funeral home to help set the arrangements. Ryan's niece was excited that I had my laptop with me, and she wanted to "write" something. She doesn't know how to type, but she cranked out a whole bunch of nothing! :) That night, we went back to the cabin to sort pictures, and it was actually a really fun night of reliving memories (for the family) and learning them (for me).
* We had a leisurely day at home on Thursday. Ryan's boss and his wife had a pizza delivered to our house for lunch, so that was fun! I tried to catch up on laundry and cleaning, and I looked through Ryan's baby book, which we brought home from the cabin the night before. So fun to see Nita pregnant with him! I'd never seen any of those pictures before! That night we went back out to the cabin to plan the service. Got that all taken care of!
* Since Ryan had Friday off, he thought that would be a good day for us to get our licenses renewed. It wasn't nearly as painful an experience as our faces say. It was just bright outside. LOL! We went shopping for new clothes for the viewing and funeral, and though this never happens to either of us - especially me - we had amazing luck and came home with several new things! It was back to the cabin that night, where we looked through more pictures and had another meal together as a family!
3 comments:
I am glad there were smiles even in the midst of sadness.
Praying for you and Ryan and the whole family! Losing a loved one is always hard but it is reassuring to know she is now healed and you will see her again someday. It is such a blessing that your family can come together and relive all the memories and treasure even this hard time.
I'm so thankful you've had some time to process your own feelings and to spend time with Ryan's family reliving the old memories. I am praying extra prayers for you today as you say your final good-byes to Nita. May you feel God's arms around you all today especially.
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