September 22 – “The Meeting”

Today has been pretty full and the rest of the week doesn't look like it will calm down very much.  Josh and his family came back here from Bay City after the funeral and will leave in the morning.  Kel and his family and Nathan and his family were here most of the day today as well.  It was good for the cousins to spend time playing together.  It was good for Nana to get some grandkid time as well.   We did get somewhat of a surprise, though, when Chris' Dad knocked at the front door.  He said he might come by because he had to go to a bank in Galveston where he has an account.  Chris encouraged him to wait a few days, so we weren't sure if he would come.  But he showed up.  It was a short and very pleasant visit.  He brought a Bay City newspaper for Chris so she could have a copy of the obituary.  The door is still open in the relationship between the two of them and even between him and me.  God is still amazing.   I did want to mention a few things about the funeral experience itself.  One thing happened at the viewing the night before.  As a point of background without going into all the details, when Chris was a baby her Mom married and he adopted her.  They were divorced when Chris was around thirty years old.  That's also when she first found out about the adoption, but that's a whole other story.  Her Mom renewed acquaintance with Chris' biological father after the divorce and they eventually married.  Relationships between the two suitors and their families have been strained at best ever since.   At the viewing the guy who adopted her drove up.  Chris' family was rather tense as they all wondered what would happen when he went inside.  Chris had a great attitude about it though.  She always has considered the only Dad she ever knew to still be her Dad, even as she worked out the new relationship with her biological father.  So she was fine with both of them being there.  They had both been married to her mother for 25 years or so.    The tension mounted as the much dreaded meeting of the two approached.  The first Dad walked slowly to the casket where the new widower stood.  They both stood quietly for a long time, looking at the one they both had spent a large part of their lives with.  Then they began to talk.  About her.  It seemed to be a cordial conversation.  Only the two of them will ever know what it was about.  Finally the first Dad walked slowly away.  No fireworks.  Just grieving.   Psalms 18:30 says, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless."   Father, You worked out a lot of things this week.  Keep working.  Amen.