April 14, 2002 (Sunday Continued)

After the funeral service, we slowly went to our cars for the journey to the cemetery. Some came and gave us hugs and said goodbye.

When we reached the cemetery, we sat beside Jared's grave while Pastor Lynn spoke a few words. Soon it was time to go. More hugs and family members leaving for home.

Those that were able to stay went back to our church to eat. The ladies had prepared a meal for our family.  What a spread of food and delicious too. I can remember eating chicken n' dumplings made by Sister Waters. I later told her what a blessing and witness they were to our family and friends. I will never forget.

After we ate, more hugs from family and friends leaving for home. The few that remained all went back to our house. We sat around and waited. Soon we were able to go back to the cemetery. The funeral home crew had left. The only sign of change was the freshly dug dirt covered with beautiful flowers by the tree near the open field. Our Jared's grave.

We stayed at the cemetery for a little while and then left for home. Rhonda, Doug and their children were staying the night. Some family visited and then left for home. It would soon be time to start our new normal.

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Below is an essay that Jared wrote before his battle with cancer. I found this when going through old school papers after his death...

     Some people say that we are Generation X. I believe we are Generation F, for future. We are the Generation of the future. In 20 or 30 years we will be the only people working to help our planet.

     Abraham Lincoln said one time that he was happy about the future because it only came one day at a time. I bet he was happy that night sitting there with his wife in the audience, and then a man came and took Mr. Lincoln's future away from him.

     When we grow up we could maybe invent something to prevent cancer. Everything takes time in this world. Someone in our school could be the next Albert Einstein and invent robots to do our chores and make dinner for us. Anything can happen in the future.

     Everyone on this planet has a dream and if they want their dream to come true they need to work for it, and in the future, if they work hard enough, that dream might come true.

     In the future everyone will have responsibilities. We have them now and we will have them then. If in the future you plan to have a wife and have children then you will have so many responsibilities you can't think. Sometimes now I even have responsibilities. I have to cook sometimes and I have to clean my room just about every day.

     I believe that everyone is equal no matter what color their skin is, what color their hair is, how popular they are or how smart they are.

     Everything that everyone does will make a difference. Some of us might be scientists and some of us might be baseball players and some of us might be geologist. For all we know someone could invent a cure for cancer tomorrow. Someone could be a scientist and invent a space station for us to live on and we could study other planets. In a few days or weeks or months or years we could find brand new planets that have just formed and we could find life out there in space.

     Everything takes time and that is what we might not have enough of. We could become anything that we wanted to if we tried. I think you need to know what you want to do when you grow up at a young age so that you can work hard for it your whole life.

     If you want to be a baseball player or a  basketball player you need to work and practice and try out for all the sports teams you can.

     My point is that anything can happen at any time and everyone needs to be ready for it because we are the future.

     George Bernard Shaw said one time that, "You see things and you say why but I dream things that never were and I say why not."

     If we just tried, in the future we can make anything come true.

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I'm going to take a break for a few days. Thanks for walking Jared's Story with me. I'll be writing soon.

God Bless You!
Lisa