It has been several days since Jansen's viewing and funeral. It was hard for me on so many levels. I tried to be strong for my brother as best I could, but learned that I could not shelve my emotions so easily. It was most difficult to see Jansen's lifeless body in the casket. Jansen was always so full of life and outgoing, and he was always moving around. But luckily they dressed him as he usually would be dressed, baseball cap and collared shirt. He would have been pretty angry he didn't have his "bling bling" in his ears though!
The viewing was amazing. According to the guest book, over 1000 people signed in. It was smart thinking to move it over to the church, instead of trying to house so many people in a funeral home. They held the services at St. Patrick's Catholic church. It is one of the most beautiful church's I have ever seen. Adams funeral was also held there. The ceilings are so tall, and the sides are lined with intricate and elaborate huge stain glass windows. Please take the time to look at the pictures, on this site. I love this church so much! Click on the picture of the church on the homepage. http://www.stpatrick-kokomo.org/
The line never got short, it consistently stayed at the same point the entire time. It took about 30-40 minutes just to wait through. They even had to conduct the rosary ceremony with people still waiting in line. I don't think Jansen would have ever imagined so many people to come and pay their respects. The funeral the next day was also beautiful. The priest did an excellent job. Again, the church was filled. We got to sit directly behind the family which made me feel so honored and blessed.
The funeral procession to the cemetery was the longest procession I have ever witnessed in my life. My dad even said the same thing, and he has lived a lot longer! At the graveside ceremony they played "I'll be missing you," by Puff Daddy. Jansen was always singing, so it was easy to imagine him singing along to it. My brother and I used to joke and say that "Jansen thinks his life is a music video!" :-) But, as soon as those first notes came out of the speaker you could just hear the people in the crowd immediately tear up. My brother took it exceptionally hard, and if you know the lyrics you can probably imagine why. It was a perfect song to play, because Jansen would have probably requested it. Our pastor did the graveside service. The Kucholick family are all Catholic, but they asked Mark to do the graveside, because Jansen had been attending our church for the past several years. Jansen really enjoyed Mark, and again probably would not have ever imagined Mark would agree to do his graveside. Of course Mark rocked the house with all his inspirational words.
Looking back at the past few days, I feel Jansen's life was honored and remembered to the largest degree possible. Everything was amazing, and the amount of people at all the ceremony's was unbelievable. The support and love coming from so many people flooded the room. I could just feel emotions and feelings, and people there to honor such a beautiful young man. I felt at ease to know he was looking down in amazement at how everything turned out.
No comments:
Post a Comment