The funeral was over.
We had done everything that our mother had asked us to do.
Now it was time for all of us to go through the burial process and then meet back at the house for our own special gathering and celebration.
I thought about my father,
I thought about the 44 years that they lived together and how he would fare,
How he would make out.
It was a peaceful time afterwards in that we wanted to stay in each other's company and so we did that.
We started cleaning out my mother's room and we found many interesting things.
She had hidden chocolate everywhere,
Even under the bed,
Because she loved her chocolate.
We also found lots and lots of these little packets of money.
We just opened up all these little envelopes of money and piled them all on top of the bed and we counted out like six or seven thousand dollars.
My sister Claire and another sibling were sort of in charge of that and my father came in the house,
Came in the back room,
He had his plaid jacket on and his hat and his boots because it was still snowing and still cold.
He looks at all of this money on the bed and he said to my sister,
You know,
Your mother gave me a salary,
I get a hundred and forty-five dollars a week.
And Claire just looked at him and said,
You know,
Dad,
This is all yours now.
And it was such a touching moment.
It took my father a long time to get used to the idea that my mother wasn't around.
He tried to move back into their bedroom that they had shared,
But he wasn't able to do that.
He is 76 now and he has a lot of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to support him and be there for him.
He has had one severe heart attack since my mother has died and I want him to know that I care for him very much.
He has been a big man in my life with tremendous spirit.
So dad,
Don't be afraid to show us and give us,
You know,
That big heart that you have.
I love you always,
Dad.
