Life. Live. Love. Lean.

Back to back funerals made for a busy weekend,  Both services were beautiful and touching in their own ways.  Both experiences brought different thoughts to mind as I was immersed in the legacy these loved ones left behind.  Susie and Jesse, both different because of their life circumstances, and the lives they lost, but both such gifts they left to the land of the living.

Susie was a single mom.  I can't picture her without her daughter beside her.  They were a team through and through to the very end when she may have lost her battle to ALS (Lou Gehring's disease) but she never lost her spirit or the legacy she left behind.  She raised a strong, independent, loving woman just as she was which reminds me that we are our children's greatest role models in life.  We model the good traits as well as some bad. . .speaking only for myself on that one.  Children learn what they live.  And talking to Susie's daughter, listening to her eulogy, I know Suzy will live on.  She died young but she lived well.

Jesse was the patriarch of a large family.  I met him when I was just a kid, when there was a pep in his step and a twinkle in his eyes as he joked with us and treated us as family (even though we were the neighbor kids). Over the course of many years, I saw him at parties and events as our families intertwined and I had the privilege of getting to know one of his sons and his wife well. Being neighbors, they were my refuge if storms were brewing at home.  They were my safe place to land.  When they moved away, the relationship lasted not only because they were my parent's friends, but because they had poured into me early on and I knew where I could go for guidance. They were a part of the village that raised me well.

Jesse's son and wife became the most influential people in my life at what a healthy marriage looked like.  Some of the wisest words I have ever heard about how I deserved to be treated came lovingly from these two... which eventually led me out of a five year tumultuous relationship and into the greatest love story I have ever known: Ernie. It is for this reason, that when we were pregnant with our first, Anjalene--there was no doubt in our mind as to who the best godparents would be for our firstborn.  They were it.  And they are such a blessing to our multiple children.

Yesterday, celebrating Jesse's life, I was reminded of the span his influence has had on multiple people through the decades.  I realized that his family, who have embraced us and many others are a direct reflection of the way he lived life.  And it was a beautiful one.

And having been at the same cemetery my nana is buried at, the one my kids never had the chance to meet this side of heaven. . .we visited her.

And we visited Uncle Ted.

Then I remembered I have to download pictures of papa's ninetieth. . .and I went and visited him since he didn't make it to any of the funerals.  Getting old wreaks havoc on your body sometimes.  Poor papa.

And that was the weekend.  It was long and parts of it were sad, but mostly visiting people we sure don't see enough of and hearing stories of days long gone.  The realization that I'm not getting any younger might have hit hard as I looked around the church two days in a row...I was no longer the youngest generation. Nope.  Time goes on, whether I'm ready or not.

And it's that thought right there that even though Nessa was in bed (not asleep) and the kids were in jammies. . .we hightailed it over to a friend's house when I got this text:

And we sat around a table and talked and laughed and ate delicious tacos while the kids played and Nessa fell asleep on the couch. These type of moments my kids will remember.  Dropping everything and going and being present to the people you're with.

That's what it's all about (mostly).
Life.
Live it.
Love it.
Lean into it and embrace it.