Getting thru a difficult time

As you know from reading my blog, we lost Rick's Mom yesterday. We had spent Wednesday with her and knew she was failing but never dreamed it would be the next day. We were just getting ready to sit down to dinner when the call came. The joy of this is knowing that she is no longer suffering and is in heaven with her parents and the Lord and will be waiting for us when our time comes. She had had a couple of dreams that entailed her walking in the woods hand in hand with her mother. I told her that was the most beautiful dream anyone could have. She was ready to meet the Lord and at the same time afraid to die. She wanted to die at home, which she did. She did not want to die alone, her husband, son, daughter, granddaughter, grandson, and brother were with her. She did not want to die in the winter, but be surrounded by the beauty that God has blessed us with in the summer and fall times. So, as it has been a merry go round of feelings and emotions, the greatest of all is knowing that she is cured of cancer, and that she is happy again. We will all miss her, no doubt about that. Today we went to the funeral home to finalize all the arrangements that were made a year ago. It was so much easier since the major decisions were made ahead of time. It will be a hard day to get thru,but thanks to all the prayers of all of our family and friends, I know we will get thru it. Sitting and reminissing about past times ends up with both laughter and tears. Only natural for the grieving process. It was a little hard to remember who called whom to notify them and we were all comparing notes. It has been very confusing at times and we are now sitting at the camper trying to relax. Then I started reading the ecards and the e-mails from family and friends and we start crying all over again. I have been able to hold it together until I read something or hear a special song. I need to be strong for Rick. He may seem like a big burly guy sometimes, but he has a heart of gold. He was the rock for me when my Dad died and I want to be that for him. Today we went to the florist to order the flowers for the top of the casket. We went to our old neighbor who owns the florist shop and Rick's sister was telling Holly her name and Rick walked around the counter and told her "formerly Fury". Holly looked up and said, Oh no, not your mom!!! So Rick told her that we expected a discount because of being neighbors for so many years. She started laughing and said, "Only you would ask for a discount at a time like this." And bless her heart, she did give us a very good price on the flowers. She also knows what type of flowers Mom liked, because we always called her when we needed to send flowers to her. That is a plus. Her daughter and my son grew up together and were real good friends. The weather here has been gloomy today. We were made aware of Gustav all night last night. The camper rocked from the wind blowing so hard. Not a whole lot of rain during the night, but it has been raining and drizzling all day long. Fitting the weather matched some of our moods. Dad and I sat on the front porch for a long time today talking about feelings, emotions, and Mom. He is holding up pretty good considering. Again I thank all of you for your support and prayers for us. Family and friends are the best in a time of crisis. I found out that my brother and sister-in-law from Columbus area are coming for the funeral and my sister and brother-in-law from Medina will also be coming. That means a lot to me. Next week I go to visit my mother and am looking forward to that. Time to go for now. Will write more at a later date.