(no subject)

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

I'd say our community got off to a fine start yesterday. Thank you all for participating so enthusiastically! It seemed like every time I refreshed there was a new post or two. I loved reading them all.

Hey Mewsie, we even had an aprilkat sighting :-)

cali_se is going to post something later to get us thinking about running the comm so that will be coming.

Mewsie's Memorial Service

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I had the privilege of attending mews1945's memorial service yesterday in Westminster, MD. I wanted to make a bright floral arrangement that was just like Julia to honor her and because her daughter Amanda deserves bright flowers while coping with the loss of her bright mom, so I bought a fuckton of flowers on Friday and, surprisingly, got most of the flowers into the arrangement. Here it is in the back of my car:



The service was the most heart-filling memorial service I've been to. In front of the room, under a stained glass window were several large beautiful arrangements--everyone was on the same page that boring funeral white was not for Julia. There were candles, a lovely portrait of Julia from sometime in the last several years with her head in one hand with an impish smile and discerning stare. There were a couple of photoboards of snapshots of Julia throughout her life. Among them was the group shot of all of us with her at the last moot that we took on her lawn, and the little round Sideshow pin of Frodo and Sam watching the oliphant. Our long-lost dear aprilkat and I hugged and I met the sweet carolecummings for the first time and we hugged. And I accomplished my main goal of going and hugging Amanda tight and telling her one was from baranduin and how beloved her mom was by all of us online, and Amanda knew that from all our comments that she so appreciated. I also saw and hugged Julia's grandson Matthew and DIL Ashley, who was briefly on LJ.

Mews's "little" brother Bob is a pastor and so he led the service. The love for her that infused his speech was very moving, and I learned much about Julia I never knew. First of all, "all who knew her" called her "Julie" and "Judy". Growing up, she was the storyteller to her siblings, and told stories of vampires and demons--she was always the accomplished storyteller. He admired her ability to draw and paint--she was a fine artist--I never knew that. I would love to see some of her work. And she had a beautiful singing voice that brought people to tears in a performance of a song when she was young--aprilkat, carole--do you remember what song he said it was? She and her sisters sang together in a group they named "The Denims". Hearing all these things made me smile so much.

He would be the tag-along little brother that she would take to the fair when she was courting her husband Jim. And later in life, she talked him through a very dark time and gave him the strength to go on. And when he visited her in the last weeks, he asked her "So how was it?" and she knew immediately what he meant, as was their way, and she said, "I've had a wonderful, wonderful life." She could have taken meds that would have prolonged her life, but that would have compromised her quality of life and chose to forego them and was at peace with her decision and brought him around to be at peace with it, too.

After he finished speaking they played a wordless rendition of the tune to John Lennon's Julia--I had just earwormed that song earlier that morning with her in mind. I got to hug mews's lovely sister Alice, who looks a lot like her and she knew about us as her online writing friends and reiterated how Julia always told them stories as kids. I wish there was more time for me to have taken in all the shots on the photoboards. She was a dark-haired vixen during her wild youth, and there were a number of pics of her laughing with her sisters and with Amanda and the grandkids.(-:

Not wanting to intrude on the family lunch we were invited to, aprilkat and I got lunch after the service at Bob Evans, where she and Julia went when she visited, and we had a really wonderful time catching up--I was lucky to get to spend the time with her. She last took Mews there in July, probably not much before the last possible time Mews could get out. And Mews told her about what a great time she had at the moot the end of May with those of us who could come. I'm so glad we had that time with her. I wish you all could have been there and at the memorial service yesterday. But I see you've had a heart-warming wake in this community for her. How like her to bring us all together and leave us so much love. *hugs all round*

Our Mews

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

I see that lavendertook has posted a lovely and comprehensive description of the service for Julia. I have little to add except that Julia has a very loving family who really appreciated and admired both her sweet nature and her variety of talents. (Who knew about the singing and art?!?) I spoke with her daughter Amanda and son-in-law Jeff before the ceremony to let them know that Julia's lj community was having their own memorial at the same time, and that even if they couldn't all be there in person they were with us in spirit. They were very touched and pleased.

Lots of people knew about lj and the circle of writers of which Mews was one. She obviously was proud to be part of the community and have so many friends here.

It is great to be in touch again. I apologize for not remembering even enough about how to navigate lj to be able to link lavendertook's name above! (If anybody has a cheat sheet about how to code things I'd appreciate it.)

I was very moved and a little shaken by Julia's service, partly because it reminded me so much of my own mother's funeral three weeks ago. Watching Amanda go through all the actions for which I was responsible recently made it very present again. It seems that so many people have recently had losses, and I'm sorry that my absence from lj has made me absent from the lives of people I care about. Thank you for letting me participate here. Love!

Welcome!

[cali-se.livejournal.com]

Welcome to thewhiteshores - thank you for joining us!

baranduin and I would very much like to know how you'd like to see the community develop. If you have any thoughts or ideas about the running of the community and/or what you'd like to see here, please let us know. We will gladly welcome any help you have to offer.

Also, if anyone would like to make icons, create a background or banner, we'd love to hear from you. I am going to write up the profile page. Would someone be willing to send something to middleearthnews to announce the community to a wider audience?

Thanks again for joining us.