In Memory of my Mimi

This past week has been one of the more difficult weeks of my life. Mimi finally went to be with the Lord about 4am last Friday morning. She was 84 years and 2 weeks old and had battled Parkinsons disease for about 10 years. After traveling back to GA with the family, making funeral arrangements, attending the viewing with 2 kids in tow and then singing at the funeral (Mimi's request and not an easy one to carry out) I was physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. My Pop (dad's father) died 2 years ago in August and the scenario was the same. A prolonged illness with a rapid decline. There's almost a relief at the death....no more nightly vigils, no more wondering when it will happen, no more worrying about whether they're in pain and can't communicate it. Then after the arrangements are made, there's a viewing. Whenever I've seen a viewing on TV or something like that, they're always sombor affairs, where people file in slowly and exchange quiet condolences with the family. Viewings are not like that in my family. There are always kids running around, laughing, joking, remembering, catching up....it's almost like a reunion, of sorts. And since almost everyone in my immediate family is a Christian, there's really no reason for viewings or funerals to be somber!

When I looked at Mimi in that coffin, all made up and looking asleep, I almost felt empty inside. Maybe empty isn't a good word.....there was just no emotion for the person in the coffin. That body was a shell, and to me, it looked like that. My Mimi wasn't in that coffin. She was never cold or stiff or lifeless in all the years I knew her. My Mimi was alive and fun, she enjoyed family get togethers and meals, she loved to dance and sing and play the piano or organ, she complained about her weight, she hated black and loved pink, she made me tuna fish sandwiches, she argued with my Pap-Pap about cooking, and she loved God and missions and helping others. It's been quite a while since she's been able to do a whole lot....first it was her coordination that went, then her ability to control her legs and the rest of her body, then her appetite. She went from a walker to a wheelchair to a gerry chair to a bed....from a healthy woman who loved to eat to a frail, withered woman we could barely recognize. But, when she was "all there", she still loved to talk and sing, she was a witness for Jesus from her bed in the nursing home, and she planned her funeral and was ready to go home to be with her Lord. So yes, her passing was sad for all of us and her funeral was difficult and I cried a good bit....but just think.....she's in heaven now and she can walk and talk and sing and dance and she's with the Lord she loves! And that's the Mimi I will always remember.