An unexpected good day.

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I started this morning with mundane tasks, shower, coffee, a jelly sandwich, dreading what was to come. You see, we had Earl's memorial service today, and I had to get ready. My ride came early so I didn't get to finish the coffee, and I thought to myself "Penny, this is going to be bad. The gentleman that picked me up works occasionally for my landlady, but he knew and liked Earl, so it was nice that he was taking me. We had to go by the funeral home and pick up his flag, since the funeral home never shipped it like they were supposed to, but that was fast and we had plenty of time to get to the Dallas - Ft Worth National Cemetery. Earl was a Vietnam Era veteran you see, and I wanted him to receive his military honors. When we arrived, we waited for the detail to meet us and Kevin and I talked about Earl. Then my brother and my pastor arrived and we reflected on how deeply my and Earl's devotion to one another went. Then the detail arrived. They have these little chapel like pavilions scattered throughout the the grounds, and we followed our detail to ours. A Navy Ensign helped me out of the van and escorted me to a seat. Then two others came, one carrying the new folded flag, the other Earl, in his urn. These were placed on a small pedestal at the front. A recording of taps was played, and during that, the Navy detail saluted my husband. At the end, they turned to me and saluted me. Then they unfolded the flag, and held it up and showed it to me. They then solemnly refolded in, and gave it to the gentleman who had escorted me in. He came before me and knelt before handing me Earl's flag, and thanked me for Earl's service to my country, then thanked me for honoring him in this way. Then my pastor said a few words. The hardest part of all of this was telling Earl goodbye. It had brought me some peace having his ashes with me, and it was then I broke down. The Ensign was so sweet. He told me that I could purchase a second urn, and the cemetery would allow me to take some of his ashes home at another time. Just knowing that made things look much less bleak, so I told Earl I'd see him Mother's Day, and got ready to go. My brother wanted to drive me home, so we got in his truck and left We then went to his house for a while, and talked on his patio for a while. It was nice and we didn't even argue like we used to. When I got home, I was starving. I haven't really had much of an appetite since Earl passed away, so it took a minute to realize that I was so hungry. I think maybe today helped me begin to heal..