Sweetssop's Celebration of Life Service and Interment

[Diplomat]

Very touching. Thank you for sharing.

You, and all the others, are welcome.

[Diplomat]

[Diplomat]

[Diplomat]

A tribute from the Newell High Class of 1981, of which Grace was a member, was supposed to have been read during the service but the reader did not arrive on time. Thanks to technology, the text of the message was read at the graveside from a smartphone.

[Diplomat]

Getting ready for the committal - ashes to ashes, dust to dust...





At this point, I could not begin to imagine what was going through Bre's mind. As I looked at her, the nagging question in the back of my mind was - how does a child say goodbye to a parent? If adults could not hold it together, what could we reasonably expect from a child? But there she was, trying to be strong, trying to be brave. Were the tears in her eyes from the cold blowing wind or were they from her own inner pain? Maybe it was a little bit of one and so much more of the other.

[Diplomat]

An emotional Pastor Reid doing the committal...



Then he did his own tribute in song....

[Diplomat]

Then it was time to lower the casket, with what was left of Sweets, into the ground. From the earth we came and to the earth we return.

[Diplomat]

[Diplomat]

It was symbolic yet so profoundly meaningful. Persons taking turns pouring a shovel with dirt into the hole onto the casket. At this point Sweetssop's girls could not watch and understandably so. As the clumps of dirt fell on the casket, the echo from each thud was loud. We knew Grace was gone but as long as the casket was above ground, denial was our friend. Maybe it was all a sick joke and she would open the casket, pop up like Jack-in-a-box and say "Gotcha!" However, there would be such thing. Now it was in the ground and we had started to cover it with dirt. It was so surreal; so final.

[Diplomat]

Saying goodbye to a friend...



Up to now she had managed to hold it together. Here, the strain showed...



When it was my turn, the shovel felt like it weighed a thousand pounds....

[Gen]

thanks ChurchDude, felt like I was right there


(((B & N)))

[Diplomat]

The cemetery attendants would do the rest, not with shovels but with a backhoe. They would fill the hole with dirt and at some point, level the ground and put up the headstone. In the months and years ahead, for people walking by, it would be just another burial spot. Yet for those who came to pay their respects, it was the spot where Grace, our Sweetssop, is buried.



As if we needed the reminder, the empty hearse affirmed that we were leaving Grace behind. But were we really? Sure, we had left what remained of her in a box in the ground but for those who knew her, online and in person, and whose lives she touched, she was alive and well in our hearts and in our memories. The stories we heard we will remember as we will the sound of her laughter, her voice, her touch. Her body died and we left that behind, but her spirit lives on and that we carried with us.



The view from across where she was buried was perfect. She would have loved it.



And so with mixed emotions we bade our goodbyes. Walking back to my car, emotionally exhausted, the words of the Michael Jackson song "Gone too Soon" filled my mind. They seemed very appropriate.

Like A Comet / Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky / Gone Too Soon
Like A Rainbow / Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye /Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly / And Splendidly Bright / Here One Day / Gone One Night
Like The Loss Of Sunlight / On A Cloudy Afternoon / Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle / Built Upon A Sandy Beach / Gone Too Soon
Like A Perfect Flower / That Is Just Beyond Your Reach / Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight / Here One Day / Gone One Night
Like A Sunset / Dying With The Rising Of The Moon / Gone Too Soon / Gone Too Soon

Sleep well, my friend. See you on the other side.

[applepie]

RIP Grace.........Missing you....

Diplomat thanks very much for sharing.

[sistactry]

(((ChurchDude))) thank you soooo very much, thank you, thank you Pastor Maureen, thank you Lord, that we are sooo blessed to know each other, thank you for the caring, thank you for the love and thank you for the support....thank you

ChurchDude, Sweetsopp was my good good friend, and there was no way I could have made it to the funeral, and so with my heart felt gratitude, I thank you for making it in your busy schedule, to not only attend and to take these lovely pics but to orchestrate such a beautiful epilog as this to our dearly departed friend, we are blessed, and I thank you very much. I pray God bless His people and let His face to shine upon us.

Rest in sweet rest my sister, until we meet again, Gods love, (((((((((Grace)))))))))

[Compry]

God bless you Aunty.

Mr. C., thank you so much for doing this. Much blessings to you.