So let me back track a few days since I haven't been here. Ping and I laid low on Friday. She went to school and I went to swim, but then we stayed home because Bill and I were going to Sarah's Mom's wake in Norwood. Bill came home at 2:00 pm and we headed out the door shortly after. We dropped the Pingster off at Ayi Meri and Uncle Joe's! Ping played with Lucas, had a nice dinner of Pigs in a Blanket and some alphabet shaped tater tots and then made cupcakes. I guess she crawled up onto Uncle Joe around 9:30 pm and passed out. She loves climbing up on Uncle Joe and snuggling. She must have been exhausted. 8:00 pm is her normal bedtime. She usually will stay up if she can though. So Joe put her in Lucas' bed and Lucas went in Meri and Joe's bed!
Bill and I got to the funeral home at 4:00 pm. I immediately started walking to Sarah, but she was with someone so I waited. As Bill and I were talking, a woman turned around and said "you are Ping's parents." Mind you, we have never met this woman, but within moments, I recognized her from a photo on Sarah's Facebook page. Her name is Elizabeth and she is a friend of Sarah's. They used to work together. Sarah has told me on a few occasions that Elizabeth follows this blog. It was wonderful to be finally able to meet her. It was so strange because she knows Ping so well and we could talk about her and yet she has never met her. Elizabeth, if you are reading this, we will have to meet someday with Sarah and Brad and we will bring Ping so you can meet her in person!!!! It was wonderful talking with you.
I did speak with Sarah for a few, but then a flood of people came in. The wake ended up being packed for nearly the entire time. I was happy for Sarah and her family. Nothing like an outpouring of people to show how much your Mom was loved and adored. There were so many flowers and they were beautiful. I have to say that I was especially pleased with the ones that we sent. My friend Anita called me and she said she was going to send flowers. I said that I was going to as well, so we decided to do it together. Sarah's Mom went to Hawaii and loved it. When I thought of her, I thought tropical, so I told Anita to ask for something tropical. What they did was beautiful and we were so pleased. Donna also sent flowers and they were beautiful. Sarah's work sent flowers and they were so pretty. There were so many gorgeous arrangements. Sarah and Brad also put together a bunch of collages. They did a fantastic job. They came out beautiful. They really captured Dorothy's life. Sarah is one of nine, so she had a very busy job as a Mom!!!!!
I saw a lot of people that I knew and a lot of people I don't know personally, but know from Sarah talking about them. I could almost pick them out. Our mutual friends Steven and Rick showed. Also I saw a few others from high school that I haven't seen in years. It was nice to see them, I just wish it had been under better circumstances.
I asked Sarah and Brad if they wanted to go out to dinner after. I wasn't sure based on the amount of people and family that she has what the plans might be. However, they were available. I also asked Anita who was there. Donna and Brad were there as well, but they had eaten and Donna had to work in a few hours, so they would not have been able to come. Sarah chose Bertuccis and so we all headed there. I had a great time being able to catch up with them. Anita and Sarah and Brad are some of my favorite people in the world, so who wouldn't love to sit with them. I am truly blessed to have awesome friends. Thank God for them. After dinner, we headed home. We had to retrieve the Pingster from Uncle Joe and Ayi Meri. We sat and chatted about the night they had with the kids and then we headed home. Bill immediately went to bed with the baby. I stayed up for a little while.
Saturday morning we got up at 8:00 am and showered. We drove the Cadillac over to Uncle Joe and Ayi Meri's. Joe was going to look at it for several issues. The car has been stalling like crazy. It also has been having braking issues. Not cool. So last night they insisted we drop off the car so he could look at it. I mean really, they watch our daughter for hours and the next day they are looking at the car. See what I mean by friends? They don't get better than the ones I have. Sorry, I am not willing to share them:) So we dropped off the Caddy and flew down the highway. We met Donna at the funeral home because she got out of work late. Donna is a nurse and she works the overnight. Since she works about a mile from the funeral home, she stayed late and was able to meet us right in the parking lot. She was going to take Ping for the day, but Ping was sleeping and the service was to be short, so we had her just sit with Ping in the car. Well my dearest Donna drained our freaking battery listening to the radio!!!!!!! I will get back to that though. Bill and I went into the funeral home at a quarter of eleven and sat in the back. The service was short and beautiful. It was really very pretty. Sarah wanted it short and I fully support that. You don't need to go on for hours to say how much you love someone. I love you takes just a second to say. The woman who did the service was wonderful. The music was grand. I was doing so well until the music and then I lost it. Music makes me cry, especially in these situations. I really loved Sarah's Mom. I have known her for half of my life. It was hard to say goodbye, but I really wanted to be strong for Sarah and Brad. It was more important to be there for them than anything.
After the service, I took pictures of all the flowers for Sarah to have. I debated on taking photos, but when I discussed it with Sarah, she was okay with it. The flowers were so beautiful. So I quickly got a shot of all the flowers and then flew to the parking lot. I had decided that I really needed to just concentrate on the family and not be distracted by Ping, so I told Donna to take her. Donna didn't care because while we were inside, she decided on her own that she was taking Ping! Gutsy, no? She said Ping wanted to go with her. Donna basically sweetened the deal and promised her all sorts of good things, like lunch at Wendy's! I have actually never take Ping to Wendy's. I am sure she would have loved it. So anyway, we put the carseat in Donna's car and Ping and her belongings for the day. We hopped in the truck, started it up and poof! It wouldn't start. This is NOT THE TIME to not have your car start. We were in line and just waiting on the appropriate cars to go first!!!!! I was literally freaking out. I called Donna while jumping out of the truck. The people to the right and left of us jumped out or asked what was going on. I am walking around with no coat and freaking out. I got in touch with Donna and yelled "get back here NOW!!!!!!" She was afraid they wouldn't let her into the lot, so I was yelling at her to go the the next driveway because I could actually see her. I yelled at Bill to get my coat and the funeral tag and we jumped in her truck. We told her the battery was dead and she needed to take us to the burial! What else could we do?????? It was only in the next town. I felt bad though. Donna was tired because she had worked all nght. She was more than willing to drive us though. I think it was out of guilt since she killed the battery!!!!! LOL. So we pulled out when there was a break in the cars and went along our way. I felt awful. All I could imagine was that Sarah was going to kill me. Here I am on my cell walking around the parking lot. She must have thought it was a bad time to make a call!
So we got to the cemetary and Ping and Donna hung out in the car while Bill and I walked over to the site. A few beautiful words were said and some memories were shared. There was a song played that got me going again and then we were done. I ran over to Sarah in the limo and told her that I was sorry for the drama. She didn't know what was going on. Who can blame her, she had enough on her plate! I returned to put a few flowers on the casket and we left. Donna took us back to the funeral home and we jumped the car. Donna had jumper cables. Thank goodness!!!!!!!!! We put Ping back in our car and took off for brunch at a local place called Raffaels. We got there later than the others, so they had to set up a four person table for us. I felt awful. We actually were there fairly quickly, but just late enough to miss out on a table. It was great though as we had our own table with Ping so she wasn't able to bug anyone. There were a few children there. After eating and taking some photos, everyone left. We headed to Uncle Joe's and looked at the car. Unfortunately, Joe found a few more things wrong with it, so we came home. Once home, we all napped for a little while and then Sarah called to thank me for coming. Not necessary. I wouldn't have missed it. I watched a Lifetime movie and then decided to do some major reading in the jacuzzi. I was in the jacuzzi for 2 seconds when Bill came in and got undressed to get in with me. He said it was too cold once he had one foot in. So after he scowled at me and told me a cold tub was stupid, he got out and got dressed. YIPPEEEEEEEE! I wanted to read. I didn't want someone taking up my tub space. It was hardly cold. He would have liked it 100 degrees or more, but I was there to relax and read, not to pass out. So the tub temperature saved me. Note to self, tub should always be cold!!!!!! LOL. Karen, it was a Saturday night too. Inside joke.
So now it is Sunday. I slept in till nearly noon. At some point Ping was yelling "Mama, I want flower ice cream." So I told her that Daddy could give her some. She is learning Triangle parenting very early in life!!!! I think it's hysterical she calls her ice cream a flower. It's because it's a little plastic cup and the bottom of it looks like a flower to her!
I got up and showered and did some cleaning. I then sent them out to do the errands. They have been back for some time now, so my peacefulness has basically come to an end. Bill bought a new Princess DVD for Ping, so she is glued to that right now. Bill is glued to the TV in the other room and I am in the office with the door closed. So it's really not that bad. It's a little toasty in here because I just turned up the heat, but I will survive. Uncle Joe just called, we have to head over soon so Bill can work with him on testing the brakes. The brake line broke while he was working on it, so the project has been more than he hoped for I believe! Poor guy. We will make it up to them. We don't often let a favor go without being reciprocal. It's not our style. We appreciate everything people do for us.
Well I am going to post a few photos from yesterday. A few of the arrangements and also one or two of Sarah's family. If she wants me to take them down, I will though. I don't think it's appropriate to showcase a sad time, but I think these pictures are great and I don't think they will upset Sarah because she knows I am doing it with love in my heart.
I hope you are enjoying your weekend and are not expecting the amount of snow we are!!!!
Mama Out!!!!!!!
Arrangement from Anita, Bill, me and Ping.
Close up.
Donna, Brad, Nicole and Michael's arrangement.
Arrangement from Brad. Dorothy loved carnations. So he did this personally from him to her. So different and pretty.
Beautiful topiary from Sarah to her Mom. The scroll was so classy. They also did other flowers, but just want to showcase a few.
Sarah's work sent these beautiful flowers from a highly regarded flower shop in the Boston area. Very elegant.
2 of the many memory boards that Sarah and Brad assembled.
Sarah's family. Left to right: John, Ritchie, Hope, Sharon, Mark, Karen, Sarah, Naomi, Sara (Johnathan's girlfriend) and nephew Johnathan. Johnathan is Hope's son. He was raised for many years from Sarah's mom.
Siblings with wives and husbands included. The prettiest one is in the middle looking over at me. I am biased though!
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