Molly's service

Molly passed on Monday and her service was on Wednesday. After a lot of shuffling and figuring out, I left the boys with Tricia and Tommy and planned on flying out Tuesday morning.  Except there was a little mix up with the airplane tickets and *someone* (ahem, not me...)booked them for PM and not AM... but that's neither her nor there.  Boys went to school, I had the day to get myself together and get the house ready and we headed to the airport around 7 PM for our flight. 

The four of us, the original 4, all sat at a bar in the airport waiting for our flight and we talked and teared up and all agreed it was pretty nice to have it the 4 of us together. 

We landed at midnight and headed to our hotel, which was by the airport.  The next morning, we were up early and on the road to the funeral home in Fairfield, Connecticut.   There was a slideshow playing on a few difference screens with pictures of Molly growing up, Molly and friends, and Molly with her sweet children.  There was music playing, which I really liked-- it wasn't soft sappy piano music, but instead sweet songs-- and I can tell you, I will never hear "Isn't she lovely" again and not think of Molly...and probably bawl my eyes out. 

This piece of art work was framed in the room and I just loved it.  It is so Molly-- she was always dressed to the nines.  Always.  I don't know where this came from, but I had to take a picture and send my besties (who have been so wonderful this whole time... we had a group text going constantly and they were getting updates from me constantly.  I am sure they were overly sick of me, but they were invaluable to me throughout the trip up there...love y'all!).

I immediately spotted Henry-- he was in Scott's arms-- and noticed he was a bit restless.  I brought each kid a few small gifts- a coloring book and a small paw patrol toy for Henry and for Sydney, a little princess toy that had a changeable dress and some Frozen coloring books.

Sydney wasn't too sure of me and there was a lot going on, so she was skipping around the room visiting with people.  Henry took to me pretty quickly.  Scott thought it was because I look similar to Molly.  He was sitting on my lap pretty quickly after meeting him and he was quite content to stay there.  

Check out that smile.... sweet guy. 

Speaking of looking like Molly-- I had several people do double takes when they saw me.  A few people came up to me and commented that they were totally taken aback when they saw me because Molly and I look so much alike. 

The service was wonderful. Two people spoke: her next door neighbor turned close friend and another friend who was speaking on behalf of Molly's closest friend who just moved to Florida and couldn't come because she is a week from her due date!

The neighbor spoke about what a selfless person Molly was.  Molly was "her person."    She talked a lot about Molly as a mom-- and how much she learned from Molly, even though her oldest son is 20 years old.  Molly parented through love.  She made a joke about Molly offering her kids edemame for a snack one day.  The neighbor said she stood there with her jaw open as Sydney said "okay!"

The friend who spoke was amazing.  She spoke about what a good friend Molly was.  To everyone.  She was always helping others, always doing kind things for people, and always going out of her way to be good to her friends.  Her speech moved me.  She challenged each of us to be more like Molly in our friendships.  I want to be more like Molly.  
The friend spoke of how Molly would never just pick out a gift to fill a bag-- she put time and effort and THOUGHT into each gift.  She truly cared for people. What a great trait to have.  It's something to strive for in every relationship we have.

These cards were handed out at the service.  I carried mine all weekend and now have it in my wallet where I see it everyday.

Here is the front:

And the back:

After the service, everyone went down to a restaurant (where Molly and Scott ate last with some friends) for a lunch.  It was a great atmosphere for everyone to eat, drink, and celebrate Molly.

We went over to Molly's house after lunch and I got some good kid time.  It.Was.AWESOME.  I was in heaven.  I didn't want to let go of them.

Sydney and I played in her room for a bit and then she sat in my lap in the family room.  She kind of curled right up and I kind of wrapped around her. 

Henry was about as sweet as they come too.  He curled up in my lap when Syd wasn't there and was the sweetest cuddle bug.  I didn't get any pictures with Henry after the service...

We stayed at Molly and Scott's house for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel.  We got rid of the rental car and went out to dinner. 
The amount of snow on the ground was impressive.... and cold.

We came home early Thursday morning. As soon as we landed, I met Tricia at home and headed to school to pick up the boys.  I was beyond ready to hug their necks.  We came home and as I loaded the dishwasher, Bruce was helping me "clean" the dishes and his collar got hooked on the bottom shelf and he yanked the entire thing out, breaking plates and bowls as he ran.  

 Then we went to tennis where Andy had massive skid marks in his pants because he had to poo so bad and wouldn't go.

Welcome home, right??? But then I reminded myself, Molly would give anything to be cleaning up broken dishes from her dog and begging her son to poop.  I will remind myself of this often.  I am lucky to have my health AND my babies.  Who cares if they make massive skid marks??