The Burlingames

This is the eulogy that I wrote and read at the funeral. I made it through the entire eulogy before breaking up at the end. Mom was standing next to me helping me get through the entire thing.

Thank you for coming to celebrate Mom’s life with us. She would love seeing all of you here today.

What can I say about Mom? She was an amazing woman. As Pastor Todd said, Mom had her ‘finger prints’ in a lot of different places. She was a woman who wore many, many hats. First and foremost she was a child of God. Mom loved Jesus. She loved praying for people. She also LOVED worship music, especially loud worship music – she was a mover and a groover.

Mom was a wonderful wife who loved Dad with all her heart. 18 days ago, they celebrated their 32^nd wedding anniversary.

Mom was a loving Mom. She always said she gave Brianna and I wings to fly and roots to come home to – which we did often. I like to tell Brianna that I’m the favorite and she’s adopted.

Mom was a Gramma. She loved Eli and “Gilbert” so very much. She was always praying for a miraculous healing for Eli. I’m willing to bet she has already discussed this matter with God!

Mom was passionate. She loved her family and friends with gusto. When she loved, she loved!

Mom was a teacher, in fact, she was more than that; she was a life changer. She encouraged her students and pushed them to succeed.

Mom was a cheerleader. Whether it was for Brianna and her Special Olympics crew, me and my friends, or other people – she was cheering from the sidelines with lots of passion and love.

Like I said, Mom wore many hats. She was a wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, teacher and a friend. She was passionate, encouraging, supportive, caring, stubborn and so much more.

I’m sure Mom already has her favorite spot in God’s vast gardens picked out and is sipping a cup of coffee while watching the birds flutter around.

Mom, you will forever be missed and always be loved. You were taken from us too soon, but I know God has great plans for you. Love you Mom!!

Thank you! 

There were quite a few awkward moments from the visitation that I thought I would share with you.

– People just giving us hugs without saying who they are or how they know Mom.

– Dad asking, “Do you remember _________?” 9 out of 10 times I didn’t and felt really bad for saying so. I would recognize many of them but their names were not familiar. Neither was the description of, “well, they live in so-so’s old house over by so-so’s land, etc., etc., etc.”. (LOVE YOU DAD!!!)

– A young child asking if Mom’s legs were cut off (because we couldn’t see them).

– Same young child asking if her head was cut off and just sitting there because of Mom’s neck rolls.

– Watching one of Mom’s students try to grab her hand to shake it – this was just creepy (dead people feel weird)!!

– Random people that I didn’t know rubbing my belly.

– People telling me Mom’s death is harder on them than it is on me. Pretty sure its not!!

These are the ones that I can remember. Enjoy the giggle!

Today was a very difficult day. We managed to make it through with lots of tears, music and laughter.

We cried as we said our final goodbyes to Mom. She will forever be missed and always be loved. Mom will be cremated and we’ll have a graveside burial for just family when the time is right (if there is such a time).

We sang some of her favorite worship songs nice and loud!! I will probably never make it through ‘Sweetly Broken’ without crying (although I didn’t cry today during the song).

We laughed today as well. Brianna and I made the congregation laugh when I said, “I’ve always told Brianna that I’m the favorite and she’s adopted”. Brianna said (very loudly), “I’m not adopted!!!”. We laughed at home when we talked about how creepy it would’ve been to have Mom smiling to show off her ‘new teeth’ (she recently got her braces off and loved her straight teeth). We laughed when we opened a card with no label on the front of the envelope and nothing written on the inside of the card. We laughed when we saw the card addressed to “Breanna, Meghan and Carl P.”. Our names are: Brianna, Megan and Paul, just saying!! ;-)

God’s grace is with us each day and through him we’ll make it through each day. We have a long journey ahead of us but we’ll make it through with God by our side.

Megan and I would like to thank all those who came to see us as well as those who are praying for us; we’ve had a very long week and are anxious to get back into our daily routine. We are also looking forward to getting some good rest as we’ve had a lot of late nights and early mornings. We appreciate everything you’ve done.