It's been "a day...." As I mentioned yesterday, my day started at 8:00 a.m. with a root canal.... I mean, that one is in the top 5 things I hate most... It was grueling, and she had to give me so much Novacaine that it didn't wear off until after 4:00 p.m. - which was embarressing because I picked up DD to have lunch at 12:30, and ran into lots of people we know with a cyclops mouth. Even my eye and tongue were numb, and it was full strength all day.
The funeral for my high schooler's friend started at 3:00, but since this boy was a star football, basketball and track player/runner, we knew the church would fill up fast. We got to the church at 1:45 with the heartbroken dad greeting everyone at the church foyer, along with the very sad casket and viewing of his deceased and only son. And since his son had died from an overdose of a new chemical drug that some idiot bought on the internet, the son's face was dark purple, of which the funeral home had tried to cover (unsuccessfully) with makeup. His father kept running his hands through his 16 year old son's hair, saying he wouldn't be able to do that much longer. The father even spoke at the eulogy, telling funny stories about his son - and this was after his best friend, who found the two boys late last Friday night, had also spoken at the eulogy. That man (Jeff) had said the families have been life long friends, and he had never known Sam to be anything but sweet and humble and polite, with good character. They both begged the audience not to define Sam by his one bad decision, as he had never been known to do drugs, and was a smart, funny, talented good guy. All of our town's football and basketball players were there in their school jerseys, and it was overwhelming at times. The funeral lasted almost two hours with lots of stories, special written music for the funeral, and a message by the very outgoing pastor.
The funeral even started 15 minutes late because the parents were crying so hard, they couldn't go down the aisle. They had been playing some sad country songs over a sound system before it started, and the dad was singing one of them outloud to his son in the casket. There weren't many dry eyes in the house....
The pastor did address the drug problem in the school and told the football players to say "Hell no" to drug dealers. And at the end of the message, the pastor said that he had been searching for a symbol for it all, and had searched for 4 days. He finally found it last night at 1:00. He said the youth pastor found it last night at 2:00. They realized when they saw Sam's dad holding vigil over Sam's body all last night at the church, that it was his "only begotten son," and that today the father would be giving Sam over to God, (who understands because He lost His only begotten son) and He would be watching vigil over Sam from now on.
The funeral procession to the cemetery was the longest one I've ever seen, and people stood outside and lined many of the streets or pulled over in respect. That cemetery service was short and poignant, and ended with the high school's fight song, and again... not many dry eyes in the huge crowd.
It's just been a sad, sad day....
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