Sunday, December 6, 2009

Home Going

I'm not a fan of funerals. In fact, I hate them. I protest actively, often refusing to go and busying myself with any activity that keeps me away from the proceedings. So it came as a surprise to some that I welcomed the opportunity to pay my last respects in person to my Great Aunt Helen.

Here's my thoughts:

To know Aunt Helen is to know a woman who had a big voice spoken in a soft whisper. This is a woman who lived in God's favor, who knew of His mercy, and who accepted His actions in her life without question. This is a woman who lived actively to the blessed age of 92 years thanking Him for waking her up each morning and praising His name until bedtime.

This is a woman whose jacuzzi jet spa bathtub I believed was a swimming pool; whose yard was adorned with geese and deer and other such lawn figurines (except the gnomes - - they weren't welcome); whose home was the last stop before venturing back to whatever state we lived in at the time.

At my cousin's wedding, she pop locked to the radio top 20 (at 90 years old!). She smiled as she twirled among the 20 and 30 somethings on the dance floor.

She commanded respect and possessed a quiet strength that those who knew her could only hope to emulate. She was grace. She had wit and spunk.

And to journey to North Carolina to say goodbye to her physical body was not a trip of sadness. I'll see her again. She's up there out-singing, out-talking, out-dancing the angels. She's made her passage home to Him whom she has always held in her heart, spoken to daily (hourly), and trusted with her whole being. She's said goodbye to earthly trials and tribulations and hello to eternity in heaven. She's no doubt sharing stories with those who got there before her, catching up on what they've been up to.

I bet her tub is even bigger up there!

Her funeral was a home going celebration - - an opportunity to share with others stories of how very important Aunt Helen was to our family, her community, and the world.

2 comments:

Shannon said...

Very touching! She is undoubetdly an example for all those who knew and loved her. And your words, she's smiling at now!

Taylor said...

Sorry to hear about your aunt. Your words really express how much you loved her.