Thank you for attending the Memorial Service

First, I want to thank all of you for coming. It was a blessing to me and the family to see the community gathered in one place, for the purpose of honoring Jeanne. Some of you spoke during the service, or to me afterwards, describing the impact, the indelible mark, Jeanne has made on your life. Many more wrote some wonderful prayers or memories that we read later. There were beautiful plants given to us as well. I have yet to get through all of the cards.

Jeanne, in her humble manner, would have tried to defer the attention away from her to others.
In a later blog I may highlight some of the memories that you all shared.

There were many tears, but they were tears of sadness mixed with joy.

Thanks also to all that traveled great distances to come to our side. Even those locally who came sacrificed some time away from work, or children, or some other priority to attend. We thank you.

We have had many positive comments about the slide show. By the way, that was my brother in the front row laughing so hard each time he saw a picture of the young Jeanne and the bearded Pat. I have had a request to post the photos on the blog. I am not sure I want to do this. If there are folks that did not see it, maybe we could re-play it sometime, somewhere?

It was fun to compile all the photos, but alot of work. I encourage you to keep your photos somewhat organized so that you do not go through the same frenzy we did. But even so, it was worth it.

Thank you for all the kindness and sympathy that you have expressed. I guess I should officially lift the "no-calls" request. This does not mean we will always be able or willing to talk.

Lastly, there are more offers of help than their are needs to fill. So, if you do not hear from me, it is not because we did not seek out help. A few weeks back, one person asked if there was anything he could do to help. I replied, "Make it all go away." He said "If I could, I would." My statement carried more pain than I realized. His answer was full of compassion and helplessness.

I think his reponse captured what most of us mean when we ask the question. We know ultimately we are powerless to fulfill the greatest need, so we want to do something, anything, to ease the burden. I am discovering there is some burden that only I carry. And, more importantly, God is the only one who can take it away.

thank you,
Pat