MELebrating

Sunday was the celebration in honor of our beloved Mel Farrell's life. The day was as glorious as she deserved. Crowds of friends, eating good food and drinking wine at Prairie Fruits Farm, a place she loved so. Ernie and I volunteered to pour wine for the last hour, and in between chatting and pouring we watched the slide show of images of Mel's life. She was so beautiful, so vital and joyous. Her two, Matt and DeDe, did such a wonderful job planning everything. I think we all felt like Mel was going to suddenly round the corner, because it was all so very her.

As we drove home through the beautiful fields I thought about the last time I had seen Mel. We had stopped in at her house to visit and sat in her kitchen and drank iced tea. She was feeling pretty good and was going to head back to work the next day. We chatted about this and that.

Her face lit up as she talked about her kids, Matt, and his work with the new Sipyard in Urbana, DeDe and her partner, and their upcoming move. It's not something that they could ever have seen. They were used to seeing her look at them with love but for someone else, someone outside their family, we could see the change come over her face as she began to talk about them.

That's what stayed with me last night. The memory of her face lighting up like that. And I guess, as wonderful as Sunday afternoon was, that memory is probably the best memorial of all.

I miss you so much Mel.

So damn much. I don't think I even knew I would miss you this much.

You would have been proud of your kids Sunday. And oh man.....would your face have lit up.