Mom's Visitation

The visitation yesterday was strange. I've always been on the visitor side of things and it was strange to be the one people were visiting. I didn't really know what to do except stand around talk to people as they came in. I gave up trying to figure out whether to hug people or shake hands. It seemed every time I extended a hand to shake, people went for the hug, so I just defaulted to the hug. My Dad had a continual line of people waiting to talk to him and share how much my Mom meant to them.

So many people came to see my family. People I hadn't seen in forever. I saw old neighbors, co-workers of my Mom's, friends from church and people whose life she had touched in one way or another. My Mom had this way of making people feel special when she would meet them. She was so genuine and comfortable with who she was and so interested in everyone around her. She had a memory a mile long and remembered the smallest details about everyone there and ask you about those things 10 years later to see how you were with them. I heard so many wonderful stories of the way my Mom touched people's lives. I'm so proud of how she lived her life. I'm so proud to be her son and to call her my Mom. I hope my funeral is half of what my Mom's is.

Cathie and I were so touched by the friends of ours that made the trek from South Lyon. We had neighbors and a teacher come, along with a huge crew from our church. I had a number of current youth group kids, old youth group kids who've since grown up, friends and families all come and love us. Some had met my Mom, but most hadn't. My church showed up because they care about Cathie and I, and our grief is there grief, our loss is their loss. Their pain for us and their kind words healed my heart. It's tough for me to get that people care this much. Family after family from church made the hour plus drive to see us, just because they love us and wanted to show it in a tangible way. Wow. We had over 60 friends show up from South Lyon. It makes me feel pretty selfish at times as I've been too lazy or didn't want to be inconvenienced to attend a funeral or visitation. My brother Jon was very excited to see an elderly (she's 88 now) neighbor that he had a pretty significant crush on, making the whole event very special for him.

The whole visitation was incredibly draining, but really wonderful in a weird way. After the first two hours, we went home, I took a quick nap and we went back at it again. There were times as people shared things with me I would start to cry as the memories came forward and other times I laughed at the stories, hearing new aspects of my Mom that made me smile. I know people who are tremendously successful in business, make a fortune, have all kinds of power yet never change the world or impact people around them in a significant way. When I die, I hope to have a visitation that is half the celebration of life that my Mom's was.