A Funeral and a Family Reunion

Having only Channing with me on my long journey home gave me a few extra moments to just think. I even got caught up in my journal. Here's what I realized: I was just returning from probably the best Garner reunion since I was a sophomore in high school! My Grandpa and Grandma were finally back together. And with their nine year old daughter. I'll never forget how they kept her dress, the dress she'd worn to school on her last day on earth, hanging in the downstairs closet. How many times they must have pressed it to their faces, to breathe her in, I can only imagine. Now they're really seeing her again, just like they said they would. It makes me deeply happy to picture the three of them.

I also realized that I have been blessed to live my life among some of the greatest and kindest people in this world. I've known this about my siblings and my mom and dad, but have sometimes failed to look beyond my immediate family. My aunts and uncles and cousins and cousin's kids have opened a whole new place in my heart. Kind of like when a baby is born and you're not sure how you could possibly feel any more love than you're already feeling. I adore them.

And speaking of my immediate family, my love for them continues to grow exponentially. I remember crying as a college student because my family was all sleeping under one roof, except for me. Well, we got to sleep under one roof again. Granted, it was the Hampton Inn, but who cares! We didn't do much sleeping either. Laughter and more laughter has become synonymous with our family get-togethers. My family inspires me. They still make me want to be a better and kinder person. I'm thinking our mansion in Heaven is going to be the happiest place there.

Lots of trips down memory lane. The smell of Grandpa's truck filled my whole head with tears. They drove him to the cemetery in his truck; his sons at the wheel and his grandsons by his side. We climbed the old boxcar in Grandpa's yard, just like we did when we were little. We stood outside the little white cow/pig pen. We bought treats at Kelly's Market. Someone even made banana chocolate chip cookies! I learned that my sweet Grandpa still had over 30 pieces of shrapnel in his body at the time of his death. He and his brother were best friends and loved to tease their younger sister, Beth. Once, they wired the electric fence wire around the outhouse seat. She sat on it twice before anyone believed that it wasn't a bee that stung her! His 90 year old brother was there at his funeral. So was Beth. Siblings are more precious than any of us realizes, I think. And Grandpas and Grandmas, too.
















Thanks, Jen, for my MOST favorite pictures.