Madison gets laid to rest…

Today was Madison’s funeral. She was laid to rest in Santa Clara, CA at the Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery, right across from a tree with purple leaves/flowers. Joel, Josh, and I drove together and got there 30 minutes early. We met up with the whole family and friends and other family members who had started to arrive. There was a bigger turnout than I thought there was going to be, which was very sweet of everyone who attended.

Dr and Mrs. Zachary helped with funeral arrangements and Dr Zachary conducted the service. It took a while for both Jorel and Kayci to come out of their car, but eventually they made the long walk to the burial site. We all gathered where Madison was to be laid at, and the funeral staff brought out her casket. The casket was so tiny only one man had to lay it on the steel holder, it was all white and literally like 2 x 4 feet long. The ceremony was conducted and a Boruff child played the violin, we sang, we cried, we listened to Dr Zachary read some passages from the Bible. We all said our last goodbyes to Madison by placing roses on her casket as we walked by it. The service was short but very very sweet.

Kayci’s family drove from Idaho to be with her, which was really nice to put a name to face and to see them support her through this time. Afterwards, we all drove to the Fiorillo's Restaurant where North Valley Baptist Church paid for our lunch. It was a very nice gesture from the church to pay for our meal.

I must say funerals are very important to experience and is a very good way to help move forward with our lives. Now that Madison has a place for me to visit her all the time and I know for sure that she is in heaven, it helps me try to heal stronger. I know that it isn’t that easy for the parents who lost her, I’m sure that they will have a lot more healing to do; eventually they too will be able to feel that life will need move forward and Marcus will be there to help fill it.

I’m glad the arrangements that were made were done successfully and everything fell into place at the right time. I’m so thankful that we have family and friends that were here to help and support us along the way. I don’t think it would have been easy as it was without the love from our family and friends.