Yesterday was cold and rainy here in North Carolina.  I think the high was in the 50’s.

On one hand it was the perfect cold fall day.  I love cold weather and am ready for the change!  But it makes for a very dreary day when it is the day a tombstone is placed.

Yes, I found out yesterday afternoon that my parent’s headstone was finally delivered to their grave that they share.  Since my Mom insisted they be cremated, they share a plot.   Ha, come to think of it — she probably knew they would be closer together that way.  She was always thinking …

Anyway, I did not expect the explosion of emotions when I actually saw it in place.  I guess just seeing their names on a tombstone just made it seem even more real (if that is possible).   I began to think about how I would decorate it with flowers for Christmas since Mama made me promise that I would.  It isn’t flat across the top, so I don’t think one of those flower cradles will work.

Isn’t it strange that a graveyard could bring out such emotion?  Logically I know they aren’t there.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Perhaps it is the memories of their last few years, especially the pain from that last year.

As I sat there I saw Daddy’s funeral again.  I saw how we pulled up in a handicapped van that a neighbor loaned us so that we could get Mama to the graveside.  I remember how the funeral director was in a panic because NOTHING was ready when we arrived.  I could see Mama sitting there, wasted away to nothing but a skeleton herself.  Yep, I guess that was reason enough to get emotional.  Mama’s funeral was much more peaceful and short because we were still operating on auto-pilot from Daddy’s death.

I don’t know why I’m even sharing all of this.  It is just so sad, but I have the hope that they are with Jesus!   That HOPE is what carries those of us who have watched loved ones pass from this life.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I dreamed about Mama and Daddy last night.  It was as if they had come back from heaven.  Daddy was at the age where he could still work in his yard and had taken over his yard again.   The grass looked so green and lush!  It almost looked like he was laying sod.  I warned him about all of the snakes that my siblings had been seeing in the yard lately, but he just plugged right along.  Then I saw my Mama.  She was in the house and was putting on a new necklace that my sister had purchased her.   It was as if they were doing what they enjoyed and were strong again.  I’m glad I was able to see them the way I would rather remember them.

I’m sorry this post seems so rainy and sad.   I am not depressed, just sad about the finality each step brings.  We still have much to do before their estate is closed.  This is just one of many items to check off.

Aren’t you glad that the grave is not our home?

1 Corinthians 15:54-55
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”