Friends and a Funeral

Today was Katie's funeral. I saw a lot of friends that I haven't seen in a really, really long time, which was good. The service was very sad (I will touch on this more later). I held it together except for two instances: when the pastor talked to Katie's little girl, Lexie, about how much her mom loved her and would always be with her, and when Crystal and I hugged Stan and he called us "his girls." Yeah that was hard. Overall it was a very nice service, beautiful music, a nice slide show and a nice sermon.

It was great to see everyone and we had fun laughing and telling stories about the "good old days". A lot of those stories ended up with us telling about being drunk in high school and Kiesha's name kept coming up...hmmmm :) Lunch was great: smiling, laughing, babies. We took a group photo at the end.

Kiesha's husband, Nick, also took pictures and one of the girls asked him to tell us when we were supposed to suck in, so he kept saying "start sucking it" which cracked us up and lead to this photo:

And I think that's exactly what Katie would have wanted!

Katie's dad was our high school band director. We all loved Stan, Mr. Stevenson, or Papa Stan, whatever you called him. Without realizing it on my way home I put in the Glee soundtrack: Journey to Regionals. During last season's finale the kids go to regionals and then think that the Glee club is going to be disbanded. They put together a song to tell Mr. Shue how they felt about him. This song came on and it immediately reminded me of how we all felt and still feel about Stan, how he influenced each of our lives and how all the memories from that point in time are some of all of our fondest. This one is for you Papa Stan!



Now, here is my opinion on funerals. The best funeral I ever went to was for my mom's uncle. At this service the instructions were to have everyone get up and tell stories, which they did, including, but' not limited to, his wife and his EX wife. It was awesome. I also like the idea of Jim Henson's funeral: people were to dress in Kermit green or Big Bird yellow. No disrespect to any funeral I have attended, or will attend, but this is what I want, so mark it down, if something happens to me here is what to do to keep me from haunting you! (this shouldn't surprise anyone that I've thought about this, I plan EVERYTHING!)

• Laughter, and a lot of it (I'm really funny, even though part of it is laughing AT me)
• I want a sermon, yes, my faith is very important to me, but I want people to get up and tell stories, funny stories, some I might kill people for telling (ie. "paws here" and anything related to the pool this summer!)
• I want everyone to wear either fun colors or all little black dresses (well except the guys) which has nothing to do with mourning and everything to do with the fact that I presently own 7 which I rotate and they are my favorite things (google Coco Chanel for why)
• Two songs: I can only Imagine by MercyMe and Imagine by John Lennon (theme??? of course)
• I want my friends to sing (my friends are entirely too talented to not be showcased!)
• I want a pastor that really knows me (this shouldn't be all that hard to find)
• Spend as little money as possible on a casket, I'm not going to see it, and I don't care!
• Don't waste money on flowers, they die, thus I find them pointless (and again, I won't be able to enjoy them, and this is about me, right?) Instead donate to the non profit that I'm going to start when I finish my Masters (If flowers are a must, then lilies, they are my favorite)
• Slide show, a long one, I want everyone that has been important in my life represented, and I mean that, everyone

This list is subject to additions, which I'm sure I will have, but it's a start! I want everyone to leave smiling and laughing and remembering the good times (because there have been a whole lot, and there are a lot more to come) and I want to smile down on everyone knowing that I touched people's lives. I want to be remembered that way.

All in all, I know this has been a morbid post, but it's true and being the planner that I am, this shouldn't surprise any of you. I also want A LOT of people there! I hope that happens! I have 825ish friends on facebook (all of which I actually know) and that's not nearly all the people I know. So you better all be there! I have seen a quote that goes something like this:

When you were born you were crying and the whole world was smiling; live your life so that when you die you are the one smiling and everyone else is crying! (except I want laughter, but you get the idea!)