Melissa's advice on how to do it all, and the Funeral....

That folks was sarcasm, there is no way to do it all even though I have had people ask me. I would love to say that I give a hundred percent to everything....not possible!

At the funeral Tuesday I had my kids dressed to the nines, Emily and Melody in matching dresses, Tobey Jude looking like a stud muffin in designer jeans, Olivia looking innocent in a lavender frock, and then Lena and Alison looking so grown up. Eddie was in a suit and I was sporting perfect makeup.

The stark reality is, I nearly lost my mind coordinating the whole thing. At the last minute I had to buy tights, some dress shoes, forgot to drop off Eddie's suit at the cleaners until the last minute, put my makeup on in the car and lectured the kids for the ride there on those questions that my kids seem to ask. You know what I am talking about...don't ask about that thing growing on someones face, or if you are REALLY related to someone because they look nothing like you.

Yesterday I managed to cook a really nice dinner for the family, I did 4 loads of laundry, read a book to the kids, talked about scripture with Edwin, did the mash dash dropping off kids at school, made snacks for the Boys and Girls club, did homework with Emily, talked to Lena about growing up like a lady, got Edwin to eat a potato, and managed to keep Tobey from having an epic meltdown. I also for the record, He-Manned a railroad tie...yeah, you read that right.

But....I forgot to go to Edwin's therapy, lost Melody's folder, washed a diaper (not disposable), burned a pork chop, overcooked the potatoes, I am not sure I fed the fish, drove over a railroad tie in the yard blocking off the sidewalk for bikers and pedestrians, forgot to turn in dental paperwork for 2 kids, spilled a Coke in my car (and on my coat), stepped on Tigers tail twice and I fell asleep instead of watching Modern Family.

No one, no matter who you think they are can do everything. If you try you will fail every time. Just laugh about it, pick your battles and try to do better the next day. My goal for today is to try and not burn anything or run over that railroad tie.

So, now the funeral. Eddie was asked to speak at the funeral because of a great blog that he wrote about his Grandpa. I am proud of my husband everyday, but that day proud can not describe how I felt seeing him up there. After Eddie spoke they asked if anyone wanted to share some memories, now I am going to try and put you into the scene so you can feel the horror right along with me.....

I am sitting next to Edwin trying to keep him entertained because the battery went dead on my phone and he was upset about not getting to play Angry Birds. That moment comes when they ask of anyone else wants to share memories. My heart jumped because I seem to be the Mother of 7 very outgoing children. We are spread around the room, within my sight I have Alison sitting in front of me, Emily and Edwin to the sides of me, Olivia is eating in another room, Tobey and Lena are walking around to calm him down and Eddie somewhere has Melody. And then it happens, Alison raised her hand! I am near panic,I can't move fast enough to stop her without a scene. I sit there in shock, telling Eddie's cousin next to me,"this can not end well". (For the record, Alison has a real tendency to say the wrong things, she is obsessed with Vampires and Cyborgs, and to be honest has no filter or tact.) She then takes a chair over to the pulpit (no idea why, she is not that short) and then through tears explains how you loved running up to Grandpa and hugging him. She is so upset and there is just no way I can get to her, Eddie's dad then went up to her as she was explaining that she will never get to hug him again. He tried to help her finish up and she motioned to him to wait. And then as she she explains again about the hugging, she says that someday she will see him again and hug him in Heaven. I am not sure there was a dry eye in the house. I then experienced pride and relief in the same moment.

I would also like to take a moment to thank everybody for the hugs, prayers and comments on not only the funeral, but on the the things that we are going through with Edwin. There are no words to express how blessed I am with our Church family, our blood family, our friends, and the 6 people that talked to me this week that told me they read the blog. It amazes me to this day how we used to live such a closed off life and how now we have such amazing people in our lives now.

I am now going to do housework so I can put on that facade on looking like I have it all put together.