The funerals were held at separate times in the next month. My mothers came first where the pastor said "she was a great woman..hell a great cook too...she might be so good she can cook for god." I chuckled at the line for she was an amazing cook. We placed her on the family farm, overlooking the valley below. She would have loved it. My fathers was three weeks later. There fellow marines spoke. The one I most remember is his fellow marine and friend chuck or "uncle" as me and grace would call him. He said "he was a great soldier, and an even better father." Then he spoke the words that are on his headstone, a quote from the Bible "blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of god" Mathew 5:9. I was one of four men to carry his coffin to the grave. We lowered him in and said our final goodbyes. My mother Told me that if she died she only wanted a cross to mark her grave, so that's what we did, we placed a small white wooden cross. Me and grace attend twelve more funerals for fellow friends and some family in the weeks to follow. I remember when we got home from one of the funerals my sisters asked "what will we do now that mommy and daddy are gone?". I responded as honestly as I could saying "I...don't know, but I know we will survive and I will make shure we are safe." The answer seemed to please grace for she hugged me. We knew we were going to get through this one way or another.
