We got home last night at about 9:30pm. We had got up early and got on the road so we could drive all the way home in one day.  All I can say about this trip is that we had a huge amount of divine intervention.

We almost had to leave Colton home to attend classes at the college because they were originally going to have the funeral on Monday. His first two classes were Mon. and Wed. and he couldn't miss the first 2 without having problems. The funeral was rescheduled for Thursday.

Colton went to class on Monday and talked to his instructors and they gave him his assignments for Wed. so he could miss.

He had a dr. appt scheduled for Thurs., and that office graciously rescheduled for Monday 3:30, right after Colton's classes let out. By the time we got out at the dr. and got gas and something to eat, it was 5pm before we managed to head out.  We drove until 10:45 and got a motel room. The next morning we got up and headed out again. We arived at teh funeral home on Tuesday at about 7pm for visitation.  I was able to spend that evening and all of the next day at the funeral home with my mom. The funeral was Thursday, and went very well. We'll all miss grandma, but it was definitely her time to go. She was almost 91 and had alzheimers for the last couple of years. I think most of us had already mourned her while she was alive and no longer herself. Every time I thought I might cry, I remembered her saying, "now don't you go cryin over me when I'm dead." She was always stern when she said it, and I know she meant it.  Every time I did cry it was either when someone else was just sobbing or when I remembered something wonderful about her and knew there would be no more good memories- and I miss will that.

The funeral director was awesome- especially with Gavin. Gavin made friends with the guy and asked all sorts of questions. All of his questions were answered the same way they would have been if I had asked. He spoke to Gavin like a regular person, not a child. When they were taking Grandma out of the funeral home, he called the pallbearers up, and Gavin stepped right up (he wasn't supposed to). The director didn't shoo him away, but put him on the end of the casket and helped him be part of it. Then he did the same at the cemetery. When I thanked him afterward, he said that it was nothing and that Gavin was his *buddy*.  It didn't end there. There is a policy that they don't lower the casket and cover it until the family is gone. Gavin wasn't about to leave and was asking about how the equipment worked (I was talking to relatives and hadn't caught that part). The guy came up to me and my mom and asked if they could lower the casket so Gavin could see (and, "no, we don't normanlly do this."). He had to ask everyone that was still there talking if he could do that part. Everyone said yes. Some left immediately, some watched for a while then left. We were there until several shovels of dirt were put in.  When we got back to the funeral home to pick up the last of the stuff that was left behind, they let Gavin go into the *downstairs* to see. It was basically a storage area, but they were supportive of his curiosity.  I had earlier explained about us homescholing (Gavin had already let him in on that, though. *lol*) and told him about when we studied Egypt and mummified a cornish hen, so he understood Gavin's interest. He definitely put out a good front for HSing!