A Funeral Dinner at a Truck Stop?

I  mean, really,...why not?  At first I laughed that that was the only restaurant within miles of the cemetery where we could meet up as a group...but, then I thought, it does punctuate the reality that we are all just "passing through" !  After I got over the initial "you might be a redneck if"....feeling...I was cool that we were having the funeral dinner at the Dixie Cafe and when I went to the restroom after standing outdoors at the cemetery for the graveside service, I realized I was a redneck...haha! :)  My first sunburn of the season.  I LOVE GOD'S SENSE OF HUMOR!!...Have I ever blurted that out to the blogosphere?  HE IS SO FUNNY...EVERY DAY HE GIVES ME THINGS TO LAUGH ABOUT!

We remembered my Grandma Billington's life yesterday and buried her body at Mount Joy cemetery beside my Grandpa...she lived to be 88 years old.  It wasn't an easy life for her....there were health reasons that caused her pain and depression and that made it difficult for her to cultivate close relationships with people.  BUT, I did learn that she loved to go dancing with grandpa....she loved Hershey's chocolate...and, even when she needed much care toward the end of her life and she wasn't too talkative,...she would still play BINGO whenever she had a chance :)

Elizabeth (Betty) Billington

She was born in Farmer City, IL and the cemetery is not located too far from her hometown.  It was a sweet moment for me when we were in the middle of the graveside service and a large tractor started to come down the entrance road to the cemetery to work in a field across the street.  The driver must have realized we were all there burying my grandma, because the tractor stopped on the road and waited for us.....there was this sound of idling farm equipment that rang in my ears as a wonderful salute to my grandma.  Sometimes, when I have needed to grieve for someone, I have wished the whole world would just stop for a moment to let me do that and that tractor stopping in the middle of the road and waiting for us to finish before starting into the field was just about the perfect example of what I always wish for.

The flowers that were supposed to be delivered...oh well...gotta figure out what happened with that.

Can I say it was a wonderful time?  Well, I will.  I have realized that life gets so busy that you really can't see aunts, uncles, and cousins as much as you wish and sometimes the only thing that brings you together is weddings and funerals....and when the wedding season is over....it's the funerals.  I love seeing cousins...isn't there just something about cousins that brings such a kindred friendship even if you can't see each other very often?....we laughed so much with my cousin and his wife, we wondered if we should really be having that much fun at a funeral.  I even got to ride in my cousin's new Mustang to the Dixie Cafe :)

I told my family that might be my car of choice in Heaven...that is unless Grandma already grabbed the keys to the Mustang. In that case, I call shotgun :)