Tonight we need to go to a funeral home to pay respects to the man in our ward who passed away last week. His wife is the newest widow in our ward. I think we have visited her four times since last week. The funeral is tomorrow and Jim will conduct it. Funerals are always a tender time and this one will be especially tender.
I saw a video this afternoon that is thoughtfully done. It expresses just what we have been thinking as we have made these visits.
This afternoon I stopped by the cemetery. Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been 81. My Mom who is on a mission in DC asked that I place something on his grave. I did it more for my Mom as a gesture of love she wanted to express for my Dad. I went to Walgreens and saw a little angel statue that looked just right. As I was checking out I looked around just in case there was something else. I spotted a very small bag of Kookaburra black licorice. I smiled. I always brought my Dad black licorice when I visited him in the nursing home. It was his favorite and he always looked forward to it. All over the cemetery I saw Christmas wreaths and Christmas decorations and little trees. These were expressions of love by family members I suspect. I placed the little angel on my Dad's grave for my Mom, a widow, and took my small bag of licorice and opened it and ate three pieces. Then I sealed up the bag and placed it next to the angel. It's the only bag of licorice in the cemetery. I know my Dad is gone and I know he can't eat it and the animals will get it or the cemetery workers will throw it away. But for a moment, I thought it was the nicest gesture of love and respect I could give.
Semper Fi Dad.
Love, Liz