First of all, Saturday was a marathon of a day. I'm still paying for it today (as in being tired and achy).
We started out at noon. We drove over to where the memorial was going to be. It techinically started at 2pm, but her mom and sister told us to get there around 1pm so we would have somewhere to sit. We got over by the place around 12:30pm, so we decided to stop at McDonalds for lunch.
After lunch we headed over to the community center, where the memorial was taking place. It's a really pretty building. The main part of it is round, has a fire place and is usually set up like a living room, and then there's hallways/corridors that shoot off from the main part for offices, a kitchen area, and sitting rooms. This is where A went to group therapy and also volunteered her time for various charitable efforts on their behalf.
The place was filled with pics of A and her family, A's photography, and other various memento's from A's life. There were also flowers everywhere. We mingled a little bit and staked out some seats. It was requested that you wear pink (A's favorite color), so the whole place was just a sea of shades of pink. And the great thing? I don't think anyone wore any particularly garish pink....Everyone looked so pretty.
The memorial started. It was over 2 hours long. They had about 8 people speak formally and then they also had an 'open time'. The CEO of the support community was the first to speak, then a close family friend who also happened to be our HS German teacher. Then her stepdad got up and sang Warren Zevon's "Keep Me in your Heart". That's when I lost it for the first time. I wept through the whole song.
Then her mom got up and spoke. Her mom was short and sweet and really her composure was amazing. Her Stepmom read from a book, that the name is escaping me. It's something about where you go after this life. And then her dad got up...
Her dad really struggled through his euology. I was crying so, so hard because my heart was just breaking for him. He talked about how much he learned from A and about her being his first boen. DH was sobbing too.
Her brother and sister told funny stories about her love for euchre and the fact that she was always bitching at her brother to shower and cut his hair and get better clothing.
Finally, her uncle had put together a slideshow with some songs. The pictures were just awesome. I'm sure in hindsight, her family is so glad they were picture happy because they probably have at least 1,000 pics of A.
Afterward, we all went outside for a champagne toast. Food and alcohol were a flowing and everyone was ready to party. Her stepdad's band played and everyone was just mingling and dancing and having a good time.
Part 2 coming up...