Sue's Funeral

Sometime in the near future, I plan to write a blog entry more specifically about Sue, Sheila's mom, than I am writing here in this blog entry but, in the meantime, here are some photos of everyone who was with us after Sue's funeral at Will and Sue's home.  Actually, this blog entry is not about any stories of Sue at all but really about the family celebrating her life after the funeral was behind us.

These photos inserted here in the blog are small and highly compressed so they are not suitable for printing or even for sharing online.  Additionally, these photos here in this blog also have a shadow border on them which makes them even less suitable for sharing or printing.  That shadow border is designed to fit my blog and, honestly, looks quite goofy when used anywhere else so, if anyone wants a full size copy of any of these photos, just let Sheila know and we'll email you a more suitable copy.  

Sheila, Will and I went to the funeral home one morning before the funeral to ensure everything was looking good and to go over the plan for the viewing hours and the funeral.  These first few photos are from that morning visit to the funeral home...

The next bunch of photos are from Will and Sue's house after the funeral was behind us.  I think it is pretty clear in the photos that there was a collective sigh of relief at this point.  Everyone had a really good time and I think it shows in the photos.  However, it only took a few hours before exhaustion hit each of us.  

Here, below, we have a typical pose for Kenzie and Gee...  Kenzie sitting very closely to Gee seemingly fitting perfectly into Gee's contours...

Sheila and Kenzie are surrounded by a few of Will's very large family in this next photo...

This is something I do to all of our grandchildren to get their attention...  I stick my tongue out at them...  now they do the same to me.  This isn't the most flattering photo of Sheila but I liked capturing Kenzie sticking her tongue out at me...  I actually have a photo of her doing this to me for the first time when she was only about nine months old...  I'll have to dig that one out some time soon...

Ellie is just missing Hobbes riding between her legs.  She reminds me of Calvin in his wagon...

Whitney was pushing Ellie toward Heather... 

And, Lukey, who is in this blog a million times now...

I don't remember why Ellie was crying here.  She may have fallen...  as she got more and more tired, she fell more and more.  

Whitney tried explaining what happened to Nan which is a tough thing to explain to a four year old.  She explained using the movie "Moana" as an example since it is one of Ellie's favorite movies.  Whitney explained that the same thing happened to Nan as what happened to Moana's grandmother...  Ellie then said, "oh, so Nan is a butterfly now!"  Moana's grandmother actually turns into a sting ray but Ellie has always thought the sting ray was a butterfly.  So, Ellie wore a butterfly to the funeral...

Sheila's niece, Jasmine...

Sheila's niece, Alexis...

Sheila's sister, Amy, with Kenzie...

Ellie...

This next one is of Ace coming up the stairs with mommy following closely behind but this photo of Ace reminds me of what happened at the reception at the church immediately following the funeral Mass.  

The reception hall behind the church is a large room that Ace had never been to before so, when he arrived, he was running all over the place at knee level not really seeing anyone...  I suspect he only noticed that he was just running past legs.  I tried to get his attention a few times as he darted past me occasionally but it was obvious he was more interested in running around and exploring a new place so I let him do his thing.  About two hours later, I was sitting at a table giving my spine a much needed break and I hear Ace scream, "PAPA!".  I look up and see him pointing at me as he finally noticed me.  He then came running over and sat in my lap for a bit.  

Great Aunt Amy (more commonly and affectionately known as Crazy Aunt Amy) pushing Ace and Ellie... 

Sheila's nephew, Matt, and his girlfriend, Jennifer...

Sheila's brother, Joe...

Tonnya, Sheila's sister-in-law...

Jennifer again...

Matt again...

Adam and his wife, Joi...

Sheila's nephew, Spencer...

A close family friend, Danielle...

Will and Sue's grandchildren sans one, Josh, who had to head back home in Maine earlier in the day...

Sheila and her siblings...

Liza and her husband, John...

Matt and Jennifer...

Joe and Tonnya...

Kenzie took my camera so we could get me in one of the photos...  and the practicing photographer did a great job as she always does...  thanks, Kenzie!

Here is a shot of the Sympathy cards sent to our house with some of the flowers from the funeral home...

Sheila's birthday is tomorrow so I had purchased some flowers for her when we picked up flowers for Sheila's dad.  Here are her Lillies...

We all had a really nice time at Will's house after the funeral.  

Tomorrow is a birthday day.  Sheila and Ellie share a birthday and that day is tomorrow.  We'll be heading to a museum in Burlington tomorrow to celebrate with Ellie, Mommy, and Pop.  After the museum, we're heading out to lunch and then back to our house for Ellie to open her birthday presents.  I'm sure it will be a really nice day!