Saying good bye to a loved one is extremely difficult and I'm lucky enough to not have much experience in this department. We just got back from saying our final farewells to our beloved Aunt Barbie. She was diagnosed with a super fast-spreading cancer 6 weeks ago. She was 66 years old at the time of her death. She is Maema's (my MIL) oldest sister.
I'm 100% convinced after taking the girls to a funeral that Hassie Clare has a 6th sense. I was only 88% sure before the funeral. The girl has the wisdom of a 90 year old man that has traveled the world many times. She was totally into the entire thing (reminder - she turned 3 last week). At the funeral home, before the Mass the family got to say good bye to her in an open casket before they closed it and took her body to the church. Quinn immediately clinched her eyes shut the second we stepped foot into the room where Aunt Barbie laid. Hassie Clare had a million questions and would have crawled up into the casket with her had we let her. We told the girls that Aunt Barbie was sleeping and that her soul was in heaven playing with Jesus and the angels. I finally had to start telling Hassie Clare the truth about everything because she was not buying all of my "toddler friendly" answers (by truth I mean what I think happens). We went to 3 different places during the course of the day ... the funeral home, the church and the cemetery. Each time we arrived at one of the locations, Hassie Clare would look around for several mins and then ask me where Jesus was. Of course I told her he was everywhere but mostly in our hearts. I told her his home was in heaven which was way above the clouds. At the church she told me "Aunt Barbie is sleeping in her bed" as she pointed to the casket. When we got to the cemetery she was very upset when we were leaving. I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to see Aunt Barbie. We were looking at the same casket as we had all morning long and she kept saying "Aunt Barbie is not there anymore and I can't see Jesus either." Was she implying that she could see Jesus and Aunt Barbie up until this point???????? when we walked by the casket for the final time before they closed it Hassie Clare leaned into the casket and whispered "I love you." Wise beyond her years I tell ya. Several things she said yesterday during the funeral gave me chills. That 30 pound little girl freaks me out sometimes:)
After the funeral home we went to Aunt Barbie's church for full Mass. It lasted an hour and half and the girls did great ........ yes.....I'm totally shocked. Of course I fed them every snack in the world to keep them quite and still. Oh yeah ... Quinn's panties got wet at the funeral home so she sat through Mass commando in her pretty baby blue dress. Of course I caught her laying in the pew, on her back, dressed pulled up, examining her "lu lu" with her fingers while I was standing up paying attention to the service. No telling what everyone behind us was thinking. WE FROM MISSISSIPPI AND PROUD OF IT:)
Aunt Barbie was a well respected, god loving woman that positively impacted several people's lives. I will always remember her. I prayed directly to her during her funeral that she would help guide me in educating my daughters in Christianity. She devoted her life to educating children through the Catholic School system. I vowed then and there to make more of an effort in finding a church that fits the needs of my family. Aunt Barbie was our "go to" person when we needed special prayers answered (I think every family has one). If I needed a special prayer, Mae would call her for me. The family always joked that she had major connections with God..... now she really has the hook-up and I plan on taking advantage of it!!!
Needless to say, we are dragging butt today. We covered almost 800 miles - round trip - in 28 hours with 2 three year olds and I think Jamie and I whined more then they did. They were not ready to leave Maema's house. Speaking of which, we had an awesome time this past weekend with Maema and Kevin in town. I'll post about our weekend once I get the pic's downloaded. Not enough time in the day!!!!
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