KennethRing

It’s a new day and there are things to do and decisions to make.  I now have to decide if I should stay in my home which I really cannot afford to do, or should I sell, rent it out, or trade with someone suitable.  The  time for mourning is shortened but not softened by the practicalities of life.  Now it is a new day and it is time for sound decision making.  I am looking in the newspaper for rentals, asking people I know if there are any good ones in their area, watching for deals that might be affordable.  But, not seeing anything that looks tempting yet.  That’s alright because there is so much to do to get ready for whatever comes.  Forty four years of memories to go through, raising children, souvenirs, and some things that should have been done away with years ago.  How will I ever get through all there is to do, sell/rent a home, distributing things to the family I want them to have, and still keep up with the day to day schedule and legalities I am dealing with concerning Kenny’s passing.  There is way too much to do, but it is the way of our culture that makes this time of your life pressure filled instead of the peace that should be allowed to you on the passing of a loved one.

But now I would like to make reference to the service we had for Kenny.  It was beautiful and very meaningful to me and our children and family.  We arrived at the church we had chosen for his services, Center Chapel,  instead of a mortuary, at 10 a.m. to set up the things we brought to honor him and his time here on earth.  Included was his beloved trumpet that he had taken lessons on as a child, as did our older son.  He had it repaired and refinished a few years ago and it shined like a new horn.  He played that trumpet at our youngest son’s wedding, and he liked to get it out and play it on holidays or when he was happy.  He was very good at the trumpet and held first chair in the Muncie Central Bearcat marching band.  It sat proudly in amid all the flowers.  Also included were picture collages our daughters and daughter in law put together, pictures of him at important times of his life, school days, accomplishments,  weddings, new babies, holidays, all evidence of a rich full life.  Our eldest son had a display on his computer of Kenny’s life.  We did anything and everything we could think of to honor him.  And then the calling hours began at 11 a.m.  and so many people came to pay their respects and tell us interesting stories of how Kenny had helped them at one time or another with their cars, or maybe they had worked with him at one of his places of employment and they would tell us funny things that happened, or tricks that were played, or maybe they cried because they were going to miss him so much and who would they find with the knowledge of cars he had that goes back to the 1950’s and earlier.  One of the most important family members in attendance was our Border Collie, Bridget.  We got special permission from the pastor to bring her as one of Kenny’s best friends.  After all, she went to work with him every day and is a real lady with excellent manners.  She would go to greet people as they came in  and then would go politely to an out of the way place to lie down until the next greeting.  Everyone loved her.  So, appropriately there were tears, smiles and laughter.  That’s the way life should be.  When we went in for the service our pastor did such a wonderful job with it.  He talked to each of us about our memories of Kenny and pulled us up to a new level of understanding of how important we all were to each other.  And he spoke of what a good man Kenny was and of course how much he had helped him with vehicles.  Kenny was a “master” mechanic.  He really did go to the Master and ask his help with problems he might be having with a certain vehicle.  Many times he would tell me of something he was working on that was particularly difficult and he would pray and the answer would come.  He would know exactly what to do to fix the problem.  Sometimes he would even dream the answer.   We were very fortunate to know this man and to be his family.  And at the end of the service that concluded everything.  There was not two long days of calling hours, services, and rides to the cemetery.  It was quiet and peaceful, not long and stressful.  When we left we felt uplifted instead of heavy grieving.  We were very grateful for such a wonderful way to celebrate and honor his life.