We went to the beach last weekend for her memorial. Most of everyone went over on Friday night, and we opted to not go. We wanted to be in our own home, and drove up to the beach on Saturday morning, instead.
Well, you would think with all of the times we have been to the beach, we would have known where to go. Nope. We were late. We had my sister following us, and since she was driving her company vehicle, we had to literally drive the speed limit. She gets calls to the office if people see her driving 39 in a 35, and it is annoying, so because she was following us, we couldn't pass anyone, and we ended up being severely late. By the time we got to the beach, we missed the turn off to the jetty 4 different times. So annoying, and stressful.
Once we found it, and it was obviously well underway, it was beautiful. She had so many people there come out for her. It was on the jetty, and it was sunny, and it was gorgeous. She had people there playing instrumental music, and they were all quiet, and it was just so surreal. They had everyone standing there, taking turns telling lovely stories about her, and then it got quiet.
Just as we were all standing there, a helicopter came over the mountain range that is along the ocean, and it flew low above us, and circled around us. Her brother was inside, along with her grandson. They made a few rotations around us, and as we were all crying (no doubtedly!) you could see the door on the chopper open, and then her ashes were spread along the coast. I mean, what a send off! Can you even imagine?? I thought it would be Bill, my father in law, and he would say some nice things about her, and he was going to just ya know, gently spread them along the water, but they went all out, and piloted a helicopter. I was impressed, and I think Judy would be happy knowing that all of those people were there for her. We stayed quite awhile, and took the whole thing in.
After, we drove up to the lake that is close by, and where Bill had rented a lake house for everyone to come and eat and stay and just be there, in presence. They had a Judy table set up, with a huge book and all of these pictures of her over the years, and it was lovely. The deck was amazing, and it housed more than 50 of us there. We all ate, and we all shared stories, and hung out together. It was nice. We ended up staying the night, and shared a room with Mike's sister, and her family, and we were all on air mattresses, but it worked out. We ended up staying up late that evening, and we all played cards, and we got to be with Mike's dad. I have sooo many regrets about telling them that plans had changed for Christmas, and that it was just going to be our family at the beach house. I remember Judy being so upset with me then, and I had a "I don't care attitude" about it since we were arguing with Mike's sister, (as usual) but ya know what? I can't take it back. I feel terrible, and I have told Judy that, a million times. I wish I would have not been a snot during the holidays, but I have to live with that, and know that I didn't know that this was going to happen. I love that they have come into our lives again, and this past weekend, a turning point was made that I can't really say just yet, but I know that Bill is in our hearts all of the time, and that he is going to be a part of our lives for as long as we can have him.
It was a good weekend.
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