Service for Wayne

The service for Wayne this morning was wonderful... everyone was very sad to lose him but the music and the message were very joyful. Wayne was a joyful person; a joyful service was the only option! He was an amazing guy. He came from a difficult childhood but became a terrific father and grandfather, and one of the most generous people you'll ever meet. Pastor told a story of a time when the church was picking up kids for service in three trips with a little passenger van; when Wayne heard about it, he bought them a bus! He was and is very much loved, and a lot of tears were shed today. We went to the graveside and heard the Scripture passage read, then we stayed a little longer... but Wayne's grave is right next to Cathy's Mom's, and seeing Grandma's grave again after two years was hard on Mikey, not to mention Cathy. It's still hard for even me to remember 7-year-old Mikey crying for his grandma; he started getting really sad when he saw her marker so he and I went and sat in the car instead of staying at graveside. Cathy stayed a little longer than we did, then we left to go to lunch.

In Cathy's family they always get together for lunch after anything like this; it was so fun to see people we haven't seen in a while! Every time we do it we always say, "We've got to get together when it's not a sad event, just to have fun!" Maybe this time we'll actually start doing it.

Afterward we went to Cathy's dad's house to see him; he wasn't able to make it to the funeral, but he was up and talking to Cathy's brother and nephew and the nephew's wife when we got there, telling stories about Wayne and stories about fishing and all kinds of stuff. Cathy's dad was in much better spirits than we would have imagined. I think maybe although everyone would want Wayne back if we could have him, we are all happy to know that he's well now, no longer battling pain every day. We're going to check in on Cathy's dad more often than we have been doing lately; we love him and we don't want him to feel like he's being abandoned by everyone he cares about.

It was a hard day. But it was a good day. Lord, thank You that You are with us even in tragic times. Be with this family; comfort, protect... and Father, help us remember to come together in good times as well as in the hard times. And come back soon!