Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, May 1, 2023

Family Celebration honoring son, Bert, who died on 4/21/23

Bert Wilhite (Being crazy; Picture taken in 2018)
July 18, 1963- April 21, 2023


Hello Blog Friends,  Bert opted to have an outdoor celebration ---and not a traditional morbid and sad service...  It worked out well--and it's the type of 'service' I want when I pass away...

SO----Twenty family members got together on Saturday, April 29, at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains for a Celebration of Life for Bert...It was awesome and was a time of healing for all of us. We laughed and cried as we told stories about Bert. We also enjoyed a terrific picnic lunch.

We had had rain for the past few days but Saturday was gorgeous. I told my sons that Bert 'sent' us the beautiful weather. I'm sure he enjoyed hearing the stories that we all told!!!! I am so blessed to have a fabulous family --and Saturday was definitely a day of HEALING. Thanks be to God. (The picture was taken about 2018---and I'm sure that expression on his face was him listening to our crazy stories!!! ha)

I was scared when we planned the celebration thinking that it would be too hard for me. HOWEVER --I loved it and it was pure healing for me. Thanks be to a loving God who takes good care of us. AND--knowing that Bert is in heaven which has to be a beautiful place, and knowing that he is now out-of-pain is a blessing.  

Thank You for being so kind and compassionate to me through these past THREE months. Bert had one of the worst kinds of cancer ---so it's a good thing, although I miss him terribly, that he only lived with cancer for those three months...

Love to ALL,

BETSY and GEORGE