This has been a phenomenal week-end of celebrating Grandma Chamberlain's life. Our family came together (80+) strong as we reminisced, laughed and shed some tears sharing oh-so-many memories!
Although funerals are sad events, they are also a time for family and friends to gather. Mark and I so enjoyed visiting folks we hadn't seen in a long while and that was a "good" thing for all the family thruout the visitation and funeral. After the rosary Friday evening, Karen (youngest) gave a very heart-warming eulogy that brought lots of joy to all!
Really appreciated friends driving from Bloomington - love all those hugs. After the visitation on Friday evening, the family (all 80+) enjoyed a wonderful family-style Italian dinner at
The Basil Tree.
Today would've been my Mom's 97th birthday.....our parents were good friends and enjoyed so many card games over the years - I imagine that's what they'll be doing again soon!!!
The funeral at St. Pat's was wonderful......church decorated in all its Easter splendor, beautiful music, and personal homily by Father Sehr that brought tears and laughter. After the burial, we all enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by the ladies at the church. The weather today was unbelievable - temps were only in the 30's with VERY strong winds - 36 mph with higher gusts!
Mark and I went to 4:30 Mass and then to Sue (sister) and Tom's home at night for pizza and more visiting.
Spent a big chunk of Sunday at Karen's going over financial/legal things and updating spreadsheet with donations. Big thanks to Doris (sister) who took the majority of envelopes home to record. Mark and I left Karen to do her thing and prepare for school this week and so much catching up after these past several weeks of helping with Mom.
Dixon is Mark's hometown and in all our many visits here, we have never toured the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan! Decided to do that and really enjoyed the short video and personal tour with another couple. Stopped at "Books on First" to browse, buy some iced coffees and greeting cards. Then we walked (or blew down the street) to the Riverfront which is very nice - walked along the Rock River on this very windy day (again), but much nicer than yesterday with a high of 73 and all sunshine! One more stop at the cemetery and back to hotel.
Ronald Reagan lived here for 3 years growing up in Dixon
His family moved 5 times in 17 years
Memorial to Ronald Reagan riding a horse at the riverfront
His family moved 5 times in 17 years
We picked Karen up and had a delicious dinner at "That Place on Palmyra"......this was formerly The Brown Shingle (we ate many good meals here over the years - they had a fabulous salad bar). It's been closed a long time and been totally renovated! The 3 of us had a good time with
more reminiscing!!!
Crazy weather....tomorrow it's to be a high of 43 (30 degrees colder than today) and snow in the forecast for later in the week! Hello....its April in Illinois!!!
Florida....here we come (hopefully tomorrow)?
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