Miss Devine

I think there is a reason this lovely woman's last name was Devine! I had to talk about this most recent funeral - she lived to be 105, yes, 105 - unbelievable!  It was such a touching ceremony  - Something was done that one doesn't see very often - they had the body of Ms. Divine in the church for a viewing prior to the service. She and her husband were one of the first members of this church - so usually the church will allow a viewing for those who have made significant contributions to the church.  I have seen a few of these viewings across my travels - So after a few of these , I have learned to separate the body from the spirit - telling myself that it is only their body and their soul has moved on. Thinking that way that gets me through. 

So I walk in and glance to the front of the church and there she is, looking so peaceful.  I keep walking to meet up with my organist, Beth and we go over the music for the morning.   I did get to say hello to one of the grandchildren, we had a wonderful conversation, he told me how she was able to live alone until she was 99 and only then did she go into a group home in Seattle - really neat place - home cooked meals - an actual house, not a nursing home.  She did really well - but towards the end, she was ready to go "home" - that is what she kept saying, "I want to go home"

Pretty straight forward service - no surprises.  Great homily - it was such a lovely tribute.

Then her grandson got up after the Communion and said a few words - he stands up  there and said "it looks like a lot of paper, but I printed it in larger print so I can read it!" Everyone laughed. He then proceeded to say that he was not sure how to write about his grandma, so he wrote her a letter.  He actually started :"Dear Grandma"  well that got everyone crying. He talked about how wonderful she was to everyone and her family.  The trips she went on with the family, the dinners they all had, how she would sing all the time - she was very very spunky!  It sounded like she had a full life and now she can be with her husband, parents etc..her grandson actually talked about how she could make coffee for all of her family and they could have coffee together.  And that reminded me about my grandparents - my grandfather would make the coffee and my grandmother and her sisters would have coffee at noon and at 6pm.  The funny part was that my grandfather would go and sit in the kitchen drink his coffee and smoke a cigarette - mostly because he did not want to listen to all the sisters complain! 

After the funeral was over, I said good bye to Beth and went on my way. I go outside and an older gentleman pulls me aside and tells me that he is the son of Ms. Devine - he said that she was such a fighter and she kept bouncing back every time she was ill - that he thought that she would be able to bounce back from this one, but he guessed her body was tired and it was time for her to go home. I told him how lucky he was to have her for so long - and that it seemed that she had a full life - he agreed. His daughter went to get her car -so I then helped him to the car because he just had knee surgery - so he was a little unsure about walking (it was snowing like crazy) - He said to me as he got in the car - "When I go, I want you to sing for my funeral" So I responded - "give me a call" - he said.. "I'll email ya" he winked at me and the door shut -

Now I see where he got his spunkiness from -

Peace out kiddies..

M-