The community & hubby's work "family" all came together this weekend & we gave him the send off he deserved. Folks were lined up for over 3 hours Friday night to pay their respects & the number of cars at the cemetery Saturday overflowed the available parking & were backed up out onto the road. The folks we'd asked to speak up for him did a tremendous job (and had me bawling my eyes out yet again). The funeral home was beautiful. Several old friends I hadn't seen in 40 years or longer showed up to support me & give me their love. A friend of his from California flew in. One from northern NY drove in. A friend from his high school glass in rural Illnois drove in. We ran out of printed obituaries & the funeral home had to scramble to print out more.

After the funeral, we (the family) hosted anyone who wanted to come to a fried chicken dinner at one of the local wedding venues. A big rustic gorgeous barn (that had been a sporting goods store the last time I was in it). And to our surprise, hubby's work family handed us an envelope full of cash that more than covered our expenses for the reception & dinner. Coworkers & The Kid's and The Daughter's in-laws all brought in bunches of desserts, drinks, ice, etc. and handled all of the set up while the rest of us were still at the cemetery. Other friends picked up all the flowers/plants to stay & delivered them to the house. Others stayed and did clean up duty afterward.

It was all a very humbling experience. A lot of people loved my hubby. Many MANY tears were shed (and not just by the women).

He will be missed by more than just me. But I'll miss him more than any.

I may not post much for a while. I'll be around. Just trying to learn who I am now. We'd been together since I was 18 & I'm getting ready to turn in a couple of months. As I told someone, when you've been a "we" for this long, you don't know who "me" is anymore....

It's a huge adjustment & it's gonna take time.

p.s. I now know I have the BEST "bonus kids" in the world. Seems The Kid's wife studied nursing before deciding on a different career path. I didn't know what. Her help with hubby those last few hellish days was invaluable. She knew what to do & coordinated his care with hospice like a pro. And when she wasn't doing that, she was entertaining The Grandson and keeping the whole mess from freaking him out too badly. (Explaining death to a 4 year old isn't easy.) And The Daughter's husband was our legs for the whole month. Anything we needed, he was on his way. One day, even showed up with a whole Starlink system for us (there were 3 trying to work remotely so all of the family could be here round the clock) and set it up. Other times, he was bringing in food, picking up prescriptions, just whatever was needed whenever we needed it.

p.s.s. Remember that Hunting Board that I've talked about? A bunch of the guys on it went together & sent us a peace lily about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Only thing on the card was "God Bless you & the family. KHF" It's taken me 3 days & numerous calls to the florist to figure out that KHF stands for KY Hunting Forum. Thank God for Google... I managed to match the address associated with the order to the guy on the board who did the beautiful etched glass block of Mozart for me a few years ago. I just posted that they need to 'fess up now so I know who all to thank!!!!