Recovering

I spent today at home with Julia.  She awoke with a fever this morning and has complained of dizziness and headaches most of the day.  I think she will be fine to return to school tomorrow, but I have misplaced the thermometer, and she does feel a bit warm tonight.

I think I needed this day off as much as she did.  We both slept until 10:30 before she parked herself in front of the TV and watched Disney movies and shows all day while I worked around the house and joined her every once in a while.

We came off of a rough weekend.  I attended a women's retreat on Friday night and Saturday morning but remember little of it even though I know it was good.  I need some time to just sit and review my notes. I had just a couple of hours at home on Saturday before I went to the funeral home to support my friend Kim. Most of the late afternoon and evening were spent there before Andy and I left to join Tessa at a bowling party for her birthday.  I returned to the funeral home on Sunday and spent five hours there and then returned for the funeral on Monday.  It was the first military funeral I have ever attended.

The sweetest moments occurred when I held Kim's 2 year old daughter for about 2 hours while she napped.  She awoke in a good mood and was ready to see her brother and have something to eat.  She's   a sweetie.  During the actual funeral service, the Chaplain was required to read the awards Jim earned during his career in the military, and the list was impressive.  Jim was humble enough that we never knew just how distinguished his career was.  The one moment that I think will be etched in my mind forever is that of his 3 year old son hugging the flag presented to him by the military.  The flag was almost as big as he, but he was not letting go of it.

The graveside service was not as hard as I expected.  The gun salute didn't undo me, nor did Taps (probably because of all the nights at band camp in high school that taps was used to send us to bed).  The hardest part of the ceremonial aspect was seeing the soldier salute the casket.  Kim did forget to warn her son about the gun salute, and that upset him, but he recovered quickly from it.

My friend is so strong.  She spoke at her own husband's funeral.  I know very few who could be composed enough to do that especially after such a sudden loss, but she did very well.

The road ahead for this sweet family is hard.  Over and over, it was said that the five years my friends were married were the happiest years of their lives.  Kim said it for herself, and Jim's friends confirmed it for him.  They wanted more, and this loss just seems so cruel.