Goodbye, Gwen

Finally getting a chance to post about our little memorial service for Gwen. It was a beautiful, perfect California spring day, albeit a little windy. We found a perfect spot at the park - you had to go through a wooded area and down a hill into a clearing. It was so amazing to stand there and watch people as they came through the trees - you never knew who was next - and see some faces you haven't seen in almost 20 years! It was a small reunion, but it was the people who were supposed to be there. We started the service by playing a song Gwen had recorded of her singing "El Shaddai". To be able to hear her sing again, was incredible. We did a brief history of her life and talked about how happy she was to know that we were all together again. We were blessed to have our friend Steve there from Texas (Gwen, Steve and I were all roomates back in the mid to late 80s - sort of our own version of Three's Company) and he sang "In My Life". We had readings from Isaiah, Ecclesisates and a couple of poems. Jimmy did a reading about how the soul is like a balloon - it is tethered to the earth and fighting against the breeze until one day it lifts off into the heavens and becomes part of the air that kisses our faces (we had beautiful jeweled tone balloons). I sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and we had a balloon release. One by one we would take a balloon into the clearing and let them go. It was truly moving and there wasn't a dry eye. Then we shared memories....Linda, who was one of Gwen's oldest friends in California (she was originally from Michigan and transplanted during high school) brought photo albums and it was so fun to relive so many memories. We told stories and we laughed and we cried. It was beautiful. Afterwards we went to lunch at a place that Gwen had worked for a long time while we lived together and during college. It was a great day and so fitting. We received a beautiful e-mail from Gwen's mom expressing her gratitude. She was busy closing her home in Mexico and preparing to move Logan with her to Temecula where they will start a new life. I believe that Gwen was right there with us, and that she was so happy with her tribute. I simply have to believe it or it's just too hard.





Also got a chance to go to lunch with Jimmy, Steve and his sister Patti who was a very good friend of mine in high school but who couldn't make the memorial. Talk about a blast from the past...we used to cruise around in her VW Bus and had many adventures....

It was a good trip...I am always happy to go back to Orange County. In between tears of sorrow, tears of joy and tears of laughing so hard my tummy aches (special thanks to Jimmy and RuPaul's Drag Race) it was a journey to remember.