The outpouring of love from everyone since Summer left us has been amazing and yet… Completely unsurprising.
We have marveled at the line of family and friends that always seem to be there to help whenever needed over the past year. I have compared our rings of support around my family to the rings on a tree. It’s not just a ring or two. It seems like a dozen or more layers have made themselves available if we need anything. 
Thus, I rarely needed to call on anyone. But, I knew you all were out there.
Thank you all.
Angela stopped into Mackinaw Bank today and talked about scholarships and CD’s. We need to go first thing Monday and talk about setting up an account to work out the scholarship info.
We met with Greg at Henderson Funeral Home at 2 PM today and went through all the functions and features that the service includes. I told Aiden he needs to listen up because I never want to do this again.
Aiden and Nate sat in and we tried to include any ideas or feedback they had. Aiden took the selected hyme sheet and said “I want to strike a balance with songs that are not too sad”. I was doing fine answering the questions but when we had to get up and go into the room with the caskets and urns… I had a turn of the stomach. This sucks and I wish I could defer the decisions to someone else. I could tell that Angela was feeling the same way. She would be deep in thought and not answer some questions… I don’t think she was waiting for me to answer. Maybe, like me, she was hoping someone else could stomach this.
Greg was ready to write the obituary… But I we are going to try and bang that out here. Also, we need that scholarship info setup if possible before the release to the papers. My God… Obituaries are expensive! We are planning on placing the obit in Peoria, Pekin, Delavan and Bloomington papers. That’s a cool grand?!?!?
We had a handshake on the total because St. Jude has told us they participate in the expenses. Seriously… They are amazing. The social worker gave us her card on the day the medical transport came to pick up Summer for her trip to Peoria. She said to have Henderson call her and they would help.
While we were talking and finishing arrangements… Father Mike called. Henderson’s staff had already called while we were there and he was ready to get the mass scheduled as well.
He asked how I was doing… I told him that I have an inner hatred for the feeling of relief that Summer is done fighting… Because the fight means she was here with us. Everything about the circumstance feels like greed on my part. I felt the same way when we were weeks away from leaving St. Jude. If we are getting treatment… We are not having to check back into reality. As great as Richard Owen’s Hospice and Dr. Deter were (Tammy, Heather, Camile and all the nurses)… The day we left was another checkpoint of our new reality.
So, here is the plan.
Visitation will be Friday, June 30th 4 to 7 PM. I honestly hope 1000 people show up and keep us there till 10PM… But, I think they might kick us out.
Henderson Funeral Home
2131 Velde Dr, Pekin, IL 61554
Mass is set, at this time, for Saturday, July 1st at 10:30 AM.
St Joseph Catholic Church
303 S 7th St, Pekin, IL 61554
We have been going back and forth on what the expectations are for after the service. Summer will be buried at a later date in rural Fairbury at Avoca Cemetary. This has been a wild ride and we never talked about it while Summer was alive. She was going to beat this, so it never led us to conversations about the alternative. Aiden has led the charge to keep our family together with the Stahls, Fugates, and Rathbuns. (And really close to the Giancarli and Matioli plots down the road)
With that in mind… We are going to have a get-together for family and close friends at Maquets Railhouse in Pekin after the mass. It’s just a few blocks away and it’s one of Summer’s favorite places. She loved the food and said working there was one of her all-time favorite jobs. Her ex-boss reached out to me tonight and made the offer that we could use the “pizza half” of the restaurant.
Is another ring in the tree coming to help? Maybe?
After Henderson, we ran over the Hobby Lobby in Pekin to find a frame for her Craters of the Moon NP poster. We thought it would be nice to have on her memory table. They do not have 12×18 frames at Hobby Lobby? I tried to shop local. It’s coming from Amazon now. Then we picked up 160+ pictures at Wal-Mart that I printed from Google Photos for the memory boards Angela is making. I literally took all those photos from my “stories” over the past week and sent them to be printed. They are pretty great… Mostly.
Greg sent me a link for their video board this afternoon and I uploaded the same pictures. Sorry if you see a lot of familiar pictures. I am doing the best I can!
I did that thing again that I did at Menards a few weeks ago. I avoided humans and people I know. As a matter of fact… The longer we were out of the house, the more anxious I got to get the hell out of there. I was walking through produce and was thinking about Summer doing her Teen Cancer USA makeup night at Target House a few months ago. My eyes just started welling up. I then started getting a headache behind my right ear and had a feeling that I needed to sleep. So weird. Probably normal. I hate it.
Tonight, Z drove back from Carbondale, sans Geno. He is here all week.
Alex came over and we got into a conversation about the release of Asteroid City. Summer loved Wes Anderson movies and we did the next best thing to going out and seeing it without her. We are now watching Moonrise Kingdom. It was Summer’s favorite movie. I contend she liked it because it’s about a really smart girl who tolerates the juvenile nature of “boys”. It’s a cute movie and I was shocked that Alex has not seen it. He’s seen everything.
It was 91 degrees today. I found my long sleeve T-Shirt I got at Craters of the Moon Park. Angela, just back from her morning run said “its hot outside”.
I didn’t care. The shirt reminded me of the trip and it says “My feet are tired but my soul is wide awake”. So, if it’s a 100 and I am wearing a long sleeve shirt… You know what’s up.
“My feet are tired, but my soul is wide awake.” Summer was getting “so tired” while she was here, but we know we will see her again.
I will be another “ring in your tree” and look after Summer’s grave in Avoca Cemetery. I’m here in Fairbury and it would be an honor to do so. ❤️