My sister, Betsy, flew in for my mother-in-law Nan’s funeral, which was last Friday. When Bets arrived, she handed me this hankie and told me she brought it for me to take with me to the service. I embroidered this for her probably back in 2000 or 2001, and it was the first and only thing I have ever embroidered! Embroidery took up way too much time, it turned out—haha. But Bets has always loved this hankie and I was touched that she loaned it to me for such an important family occasion.
My mom also flew in for Nan’s funeral, and provided some much-needed grandmother love to the kids.
The day of Nan’s funeral was difficult, but also very beautiful in the sense that friends and family came from near and far and we got to discuss, reminisce about, and celebrate Nan all day. The six grandchildren went to the front of the church to read Nan’s favorite scriptures together, and I almost didn’t make it through that in one piece…but it was a powerful statement of what was truly important to my precious mother-in-law: family and faith.
I was honored to deliver the eulogy at the service, and was so happy to be able to talk about Nan, this quiet, stunning, strong-yet-vulnerable force in our family who took her family camping in Yellowstone, taught Sunday School (and took her Sunday School class camping several times as well), rode horses, survived the loss of a son, and touched many lives with her steadfast faith and well-lived life. We are all going to miss her so much.
The evening after the service, Ladd decided to have everyone gather at our soon-to-open pizza place in town, which I have not told you about because of all that’s been going on. It is opening in a couple of weeks, and was the perfect spot to get together for some conversation and laughter.
We all needed it.
Our pizza place is called P-Town Pizza (“P-Town” is Pawhuska’s nickname), and it’s right across the street from The Merc.
Of all the things for me not to snap pics of Saturday night, I forgot to snap pics of the pizza itself. But I did capture a few of the drinks. This one is an Oklahoma Prairie Fire.
Two Bloody Mary options.
This one tastes like cold apple pie.
Oh my.
Oh, and I did manage to take a photo of one of the desserts.
Naturally.
Again, it was so nice to be among friends and just enjoy an evening together. This is Layton, the fiance of Sarah, who babysat my kids when she was in high school and college and, by the way, was also a college track star.
This is Cowboy Pete’s daughter (you might remember that he passed away suddenly last fall.) She is one of my favorite people, and I was so glad she joined us. Also pictured is my brother-in-law, Tim, and Ladd and Tim’s second cousin, Lynn, whose dad was my father-in-law Chuck’s first cousin. Her daughter (my kids’ third cousin; I’m obsessed with the cousin chart) has recently gotten to know my and Tim’s children, and I love watching these relationships form.
This is Betsy, along with Tony and Bill, Ladd’s close friends from college. They “showed up” for Ladd in a big way this weekend; it was so good for him to have his buddies around. They helped with tasks that needed to be done, but also just hung around and were there for him, just as Bets was here for me. Love these guys a lot!
It was a busy weekend, full of activity and food and family. The dogs didn’t know what to make of it all.
This was basically us yesterday afternoon. We went to church, said goodbye to everyone, then zonked out. And now we go about the business of moving forward, which of course we will do, though we (especially Chuck, Tim, and Ladd) will have some sad moments of acceptance in the coming weeks and months. The grief of losing a loved one is a natural part of life, and people go through it every day. Right now we’re just grateful that we had her for as long as we did, and that we got to celebrate her in such a wonderful way.
Thank you all so much for your sweet words and prayers.
Love,
P-Dub
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