At the funeral itself, it was beautiful to be able to share memories of her, and also hear about parts of her life that we weren't around for, like her childhood from some of her siblings. I loved seeing the slide show, listening to her stories, seeing her pictures and belongings, and even getting to sing like she enjoyed w others. I loved getting to catch up with family I grew up w, like my cousins, and ones that my Mom grew up w that I met for the first time [in my memory]. It was also fun, as always to see this new generation play. Throughout the trip, there were alot of tears, grateful ones, happy ones, bittersweet sad ones, and more. Lots of warmth. Lots of tears. Lots of laughs. Lots of flowers. Lots of family. Trips to Reed's Dairy, smoking meats, cooking baking and games, outside time, and a day in Island Park where she spent her summers growing up, waterfalls, rainy days, and other good times. Lots of catching up and conversations. I loved all of it. After everyone slowly but surely made their way back to their homes, my Mom stayed an extra day or two, which was wonderful since we got to spend our nights catching up and watching father brown, and visiting for dinner w Chio and her family. We even got to get a date night in for our 11th wedding anniversary knowing the kids were in good hands, watching Scooby Doo, making cookies and being read to by someone who loves them almost as much as we do. We loved watching and listening to the thunder and lightning storms together etc. 

Since then, we had a few nice weeks together before enduring some time apart. School started, we've done some art work and baking, fort building, library days, way to many movie nights, activities and visits from friends and are now counting down the days till we are together again. More life ahead for us thanks to her.