K's Party dress

     On Friday morning, I got a text from Kenney that said, "Guess what I've got!" and my response was, "A box of tissues for when I come see you this afternoon?!" I was joking, of course, because I knew that Kenney meant that Kaitlyn's urn had come in.
       It was a really weird going to pick up the urn from Kenney's office. I was excited to pickup something a little more permanent for K to be in (and yes, somewhere along the line I have started calling her K as a nickname), but at the same time I almost feared that this would be the end of my relationship with Kenney. I felt like I wouldn't have any more excuses to stop by and say hello, and I don't know if its weird to be friends with your funeral director. Imagine if somebody asked how you knew each other and your response is, "She took care of my daughter when she passed away." Kinda sounds weird, but I'm sure that Kenney would just laugh it off and tell them to get over it.
       I was also really excited to go and show Kenney the pictures that Mallie had taken. I knew that Kenney would be 100% okay with it since she saw Kaitlyn and was the last person to hold Kaitlyn before her cremation, so pictures are not going to creep her out at all.
      After getting a big hug from the Nanana, I followed her into her office where K's urn was sitting on her desk. It is absolutely beautiful, and I was so happy with the way it had turned out.

        It's so simple and beautiful. I love it. I love everything about it. You can't really see it in this picture, but to seal the ashes inside there is a beautiful lid:

       When I saw this detail, I just started crying. And then I started laughing because I was crying at something so silly, and I looked at Kenney and pointed to it and said, "Why is this making me cry?!" She said, "Because its beautiful, and its for your beautiful daughter." Seriously, this woman is an angel. I felt proud. I felt like I was going to get to dress up my daughter in something beautiful. I loved everything about it.

        After I gathered myself, I went and sat on her couch and we talked about nothing for a minute. I told her that we got the pictures in and I asked if she wanted to see them, to which she replied, "Well Of COURSE!" as if I had just asked the silliest question in the world. I went and sat on the arm of the couch as she went through the pictures. The one that I posted before that shows Alex kissing Kaitlyn on the forehead was the one that got Kenney. She just said, "Oh Amy, these are absolutely beautiful" as she started crying. I don't know if I shared this before, but one of Kenney's sons had actually lost twins, and I know that seeing my macho handsome husband (not that I'm biased) show his daughter such sweet tenderness really tugged at her heart because it probably reminded her of her own son.

       When I got home that evening, I left the urn in the maroon bag that Kenney had given me to carry it out in. The next evening Alex and I put our daughter in her party dress (that's what I'm going to call it), and put the pink candle that was in her floral arrangement for the memorial service on top of the urn. I think that's why the lid hit me so hard. It is beautiful, a wonderful detail that ties every piece of the urn together, but it is also a detail that didn't have to be there. The urn is designed to hold a candle, and for that piece to not really be displayed for anyone to see it. And yet the maker of the urn thought enough of the piece to put a beautiful detail there for whoever was going to be placing their loved one in the urn. Whoever it was, they were loving us through the details.