A FRESH WEEK. AND A FEW MEMORIES OF THE VISITATION.

this week is better. much better. we had a good weekend. we're pulling through. dave is still swamped, but seems less overwhelmed. we're figuring out normal.

 

a few things i don't want to forget:

 

*picking out a casket - this was nuts. we had to pick out a casket. and a grave liner and things that you don't want to do when you are grieving from a very unexpected loss. the entire time, there's this feeling of, is this for real? are we really doing this? picking out a casket spray for MIKE'S casket? i look back now and i still can't believe that it happened. it still doesn't feel real. we picked out a gunmetal gray that had chrome on it that reminded us of the semi. we wanted black, but they didn't have the one that we wanted.

 

*as sick as it sounds, everything was perfect. so many people worked behind the scenes for us, taking care of a million details that made the visitation and funeral "how mike would have wanted it." whatever. that sounds ridiculous.

 

*we wore mason sound shirts and jeans at the funeral. of course we did. it was perfect.

 

*dave set up a speaker on a stand (pickle on a stick!) outside so people waiting had something the listen to. good thing because the line was insane.

 

*we stood for nine hours at the visitation. dave, lucille and barb didn't leave the line a single time. the last person went thru line at 11:15pm.

 

*the amount of flowers was overwhelming. and now, so are the thank you notes (haha). we had four arrangements from eric church's bunch, some from 38 special, john michael montgomery, Kentucky headhunters, confederate railroad, justin moore, etc. i mean, tons.

 

*the rough old sound guys cried the most.

 

*kentucky headhunters came through the visitation. well, they cut in front of a ton of people, but that was okay.

 

*so did leroy vandyke...but he waited in the four hour line.

 

*we had mike's guitar set up at the head of the casket. henry was obsessed and kept playing it while it sat on the stand. every so often he would back up and say, "papa!" and point. so emotional.

 

*people came from all over. i can't begin to thank everyone who came and waited through the line. and thank you to everyone who came and couldn't wait. we totally understand. it was crazy and an amazing testament to the sheer amount of people who mike impacted.

 

there's so much more. i can't even begin to get it all out.