September 29, 2024
Friday, September 27, Bruce drove us down to my parents’ farm. It took six hours plus some to get there.
We were put up in the “cabin” my dad built. It is a three bedroom, two bath house in the woods. It has a very nice kitchen, a dining area and a living room. The siding is red oak harvested from the farm.
Nox enjoyed doing Nox things. You can see her in the above picture.
I got to see family members from my mom’s family and my dad’s family.
So many people came to my mom’s funeral. My brother-in-law officiated the funeral and gave her eulogy. He did a great job. One of my nephew’s friend sang my mother’s favorite hymn acapella. It was stunningly beautiful.
Bruce was an honorary pallbearer, as they weren’t sure he would make it.
We said a prayer at the gravesite and the pallbearers laid their boutonnières on the coffin.
Afterwards, we went to the main farmhouse and ate dinner and visited with family. Mom’s three living brothers came, one from Jacksonville, FL the second from south Alabama and the other is local. Her youngest living sister came. There were ten siblings, now only four are left. My mom was the second oldest and she was 84 when she died.
One of dad’s sister came. The youngest planned to come, but had a bad fall and wasn’t able to make it.
Many of my cousins came to say goodbye to their Aunt Gayle.
I kept hearing, “you look just like your mom!” Some did a double take, as I do look so much like her. One of my mom’s friends said, “I thought you were Gayle for a second and my heart almost stopped.”
It was good turn out and it was great to know mom was so loved and respected.
My family was excited we had bought a house in Alabama, but concerned that we might have storm damage.
Today, after getting some breakfast at the main house, Bruce drove us back to Florence Alabama RV Park. Across the street from the RV park, a tree had lost a large limb.
We stopped at the RV long enough to get Nox settled in, then we drove over to the house.
We were lucky, we didn’t have any damage to the trees or to the house.
Blackberry Homestead 
I’m glad you were there in time and were able to see so many relatives.
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Thank you.
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Sounds like a busy weekend. I’m glad you’re able to celebrate your mother’s life with the people who loved her most.
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It was a busy weekend. I relieved all of mom’s remaining siblings could make it.
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What a lovely story about your goodbye to your mom, Julia. I could almost picture it as you were describing it. I am glad you both made it there, and that all is well back at your new home. I will look forward to you making it yours.
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Thank you.
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When someone has lived a long and useful life, memorial gatherings are rich and inspiring. I’m so glad you were both able to be there.
And so glad your new abode sustained no damage!
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I was glad we both were able to make it.
We were somewhat worried when we saw large branches down right across the street from the RV park. It was a relief to see everything was fine.
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I am glad you made it in time for the funeral and that it went well. It is too bad that sometimes it takes a funeral to get all those people together. I love the cabin in the woods.
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I love staying in the cabin. It is peaceful and restful.
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The memorial service and the meal that followed sound lovely. What a nice way to remember your mother.
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It was a beautiful way to remember mom.
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It’s always comforting to see everybody at the funeral. It’s nice to see the impact our loved ones had on the world.
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Yes, it is. It was good to see how much of an impact my mom made.
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