The drive, the funeral, home again, the beach

Mama and I left for Florida at 5 am Friday morning. The drive was an easy one all things considered. Mama and I encountered no heavy traffic although we drove on the opposite side of the road from several major traffic jams. One particularly memorable pileup went on for almost five miles. That would have been a major delay in travel but we were going the opposite direction and all lanes were moving well in our direction. As expected, the trip took about thirteen hours. We got to our hotel a little before 6 pm. It was a disappointing hotel but we were not willing to spend more than we needed to have a place to sleep for a couple nights. It was not the worst accommodations we have dealt with, but it certainly was not a nice hotel. Those were charging between $150 and $200 per night. We got by with the $95 per night for our recently remodeled, but still not very nice hotel.

The viewing for Jadon Goins was set for 12:30 to 2 pm. Mama and I were at the church a little before 12 pm and that turned out to be a good thing. We got to spend about forty minutes with Matt, Dellita, Joash and Justice. The crowd began to gather over the next thirty minutes and expanded to more than four hundred. Mama and I sat near the front and were able to view all that passed by the casket, hugged each family member in turn and tried to either give or receive comfort. It was a slow, patient, loving expression of support for the Goins who were there to lay Jadon to rest. It was both overwhelmingly sad and full of hope because of the faith we all share. There was no question of the “why”, only a calm expression of faith in the Will of God for each of our lives. Matta and Dellita had far less time than they had expected with Jadon. All his plans for life, all their plans for his life, were now forever terminated. And yet, Jadon is in a far better place. Fully in the Will of God. Perfect in all ways. Without the burden of this sinful world to deal with. Taking on his new Heavenly assignments. It hurts from our perspective, but it far better from Jadon’s point of view. God did not create us for this life alone. He has an eternal purpose for each of us!

Mama and I ate a late lunch after the funeral had concluded and as we did so, we talked about the service of the funeral. We had expressed to each other how pleased we were with the service to celebrate Jadon’s homegoing. There was just the right balance of the expression of loss suffered, and the expression of faith and hope we share in salvation. It was far better than what we experienced in Becky’s memorial service. We talked about the thought that this service brought us the closure we were looking for when we attended Becky and Bridgette’s memorial service. Not to disparage Mike in what he did to order the memorial service for Becky and Bridgett, but his focus was not the same as the focus of Matt and Dellita in their observance of Jadon’s life and God’s purpose for that life. That thought was vindicated a couple days later when Maggie expressed the same idea. I am glad we went. Dellita told us when we originally got there to hug them that the hug we were giving was like getting a hug from Cori and Nate. That was exactly the reason we were there. It was a difficult time. It was an emotional time. It was time well spent.

Sunday night was not what we expected. I laid down at 9 pm but was wide awake at 10:30. I sat up and prayed until about 11:30. Knowing that I would not get back to sleep, I got dressed and continued praying. Mama woke up a few minutes later and saw me dressed and ready to go. So, she got ready to go as well. We left Pensacola a little before 12 am. I drove until daylight, about seven hours later, then Mama took over for an hour and I finished the drive home. We were about an hour from home and got stopped in a traffic snarl that cost us about thirty minutes. We were home, unpacking the Sequoia at 2 pm. I laid down shortly after that and slept until 5 pm. Both Mama and I were exhausted and I took off yesterday to sleep in and catch up on some farm chores. I am thoroughly pleased with all I was able to get done in that extra day at the farm. Mama spent the day following up with Grandma and Grandpa on the days we were gone and finishing up with the hatching chickens. We have eighteen now of the twenty-four eggs we incubated. A 75% hatch rate. We have Sarah Fox to thank for that.

In-between services on Saturday and Sunday, Mama and I spent some time at the beach. We found a less populated patch of beach just down the island from Pensacola Beach proper. That area was extremely crowded.  Each of our two visits were less than two hours. We had brought no chairs and the water was beautiful a blue-green but quite cold. Both days were windy with the temperatures in the high sixties. Not a good time to visit the beach, but we made the most of it. Both Mama and I love the sights, sounds and smell of the Gulf shores. There were shells just out of our reach in the surf, but even thought we had to make do with the shells deposited by the tides, we managed to bring home a few little shells and some sand home with us.

It was nice to be able to drive the round trip versus flying.