Sunday, April 7, 2013

Celebrating "The Bear"

What a beautiful day we had here in East Tennessee today! Just gorgeous. Our Sunday started as they always do, with church. A powerful sermon to get us started. It lit a fire under me and gave me an attitude adjustment I needed to truly start my morning. And then....I went to get in my car to go home and found it dead. Oh the "woe is me's" that came out of my mouth. I was on a schedule. I had just enough time to get home, inhale some lunch, change clothes, straighten the kids up and get back on the road. Oh well, the best laid plans.... I called the hub who attempted to jump the car off, but to no avail. So he sent me on and sat at church waiting for AAA to arrive within a 15-45 minute time period...kind of the cable company timing for the auto industry. He's an awfully good egg. The kids and I ran home. I sucked down some sort of pseudo lunch, changed out of one set of church clothes into another set of church clothes, dressed the kids, braided some hair, set the GPS and hit the road. We arrived in Norris, TN, found a parking space and walked into an interesting little church to celebrate the life of our sweet friend, Barry Hughes. We saw lots of familiar faces from Kroger, the kids waving to people in every direction. Looking at the program, we knew it was going to be a very unique service. For the next hour, we listened to wonderful words about a man who blessed everyone who crossed his path. Words that explained all of the obstacles that Barry chose to not let define his life and his love for it. There were elements I had never experienced during a funeral before, but they all had a purpose and made perfect sense. I am so glad that I brought the children. The stories of Barry choosing to make a "stepping stone out of a stumbling block" and live life to its fullest with no complaints...well how could that not be a good lesson for anyone to hear? And after all the readings of different cards sent to him from Kroger customers and employees, the service ended with the congregation singing "Zip a dee doo dah", per his mother's request. Honestly, it seemed like the perfect way to conclude. We then went to the reception after with some family friends and mutual Barry admirers. Spread on tables in the fellowship hall were the hundreds of cards that had been sent to Barry...words of encouragement, sorrow, love and deep gratitude. It was touching, really, to see all of those notes. A table was there just for children's cards. His sister told us they pulled those out and read them to him first. The family was gracious and kind and genuinely touched by the outpouring of love for their beloved "Bear".

It would have been so easy to have skipped the whole funeral on such a beautiful day, but I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. I am still so sad that I never got a picture of the kids with their beloved Mr. Barry. So many of the people at Kroger are so very special to us. I decided to start chronicling them as I could so that the kids would have pictures to remember them. Our first came today. Even though it is an irrational fear, when children find out that one person they love is in a bad way, they are concerned for the others associated with them. In other words, whenever we saw Mr. Barry, we saw our other dear friend, Mr. Don. Once they heard Barry was sick, the kids needed to see Don and know he was okay. I am so grateful for his kindness and loving spirit with them...even if he is a rascal. So here was picture number one. The kids were thrilled to have it:



Thank you, Don. We love you. And to Barry, what a beautifully fitting day to sing "Zip a dee doo dah" and remember you for the saint you were. Thank you for making our lives better for having you as our friend. We'll love you always.
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