Migraine

my husband just came home with a message that a choir member had called*excusing herself about the hour* telling us that Sister MacCallum has just died of cancer*liver and lung* She called late cause she knows the weird hours we keep. She will do the rest of the choir tomorrow. Please pray for her family, her fellow religious sisters and that in death, sister MacCallum *Marion* is reunited with the God she so loved and that she is finally peaceful and without pain.
Also pray for the strength I'll need when we all go to the wake and sing at the funeral*im not good with death!*
I'll miss her

hugs
bim

Bim,

I will be keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers over the next several days. I know what you mean about not being good about death. I will pray that you keep your thoughts positive that she has gone to be with God.

Stay strong and stay pain-free.

With sympathy,

Yvonne

Bim,

"The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God...
They are at peace."
This is from an anthem my choir (French Protestant) sings.

I truly believe Sister McCallum will be watching y'all singing at her funeral & chuckling over the stories told about her at her wake. That is, if her wake is like wakes in my family, where amusing stories about the deceased end up flowing like healing waters.

"Lean on me when you're not strong,
I'll be your friend,
I'll help you carry on..."

With love,
Rebecca

Thank you to those who replied. Believe it or not it has helped me with the sadness. She was such a beautiful person. Strong , cheerful... One of my fondest memories of her takes place just weeks before she found out about the cancer. She had been taken by a fit of coughing and gasping, but through it , she heard a note being sung flat 3 people down from her. So as soon as she stopped coughing, she corrected the other lady" this is a HIGH F SHARP not an F flat. please correct it, its kind of annoying" then she sang the correct note. LOL. That made me laugh, as it did everyone else. Here's sister MacCallum gasping for air and she takes the time to say that her fellow member is flat. hehehe. Its just so like her. She was devoted to her music, to life and of course to God. Rebecca, I will keep that quote about the righteous being in the hands of God. It will give me comfort and strength at the wake/funeral. It will be beautiful... we're a 90+ choir and shes being remembered at the big catholic cathedral* she was quite an influential person in town* I'm desperately trying to think good thoughts... Its so hard for me to deal with grief, cause im highly.... whats the word.... feel other people's pain... aww hell. whatever the word is, thats what I am.

I believe she'll be watching over us, and with her pet peeve regarding any note off key, we'd better be perfect or darned close to it!

So thank you for all your prayers
They mean the world to me. Keep em comin!

love
bim

Empathic? Empathetic?

Our little choir has only 17-18 members, & 1 of our sopranos is ALWAYS off-key. But, she's also one of our Elders, & keeps $$ in the chrch budget for the music program, so we just leave her be. Besides, Barbara is a lovely lady, & the other sopranos can sing over her.

Bim, love, just keep thinking of the funny times with sister McCallum while you sing for her. You'll stay on key, even with the tears flowing.

And, of course, I'll be there in spirit, with your tenors, even though I STILL can't read music. I've been in our choir for 4 years now, & I still have trouble.

Rebecca

yes, I'll likely stay on key. I remember another choir I was in, our director died. He knew it was coming and had the whole funeral prepared. He wanted me to do descant *alone* above the group for 1 song. And crying like a baby I still managed to do it. Though I prayed to God and him too for strength. In fact, Im sure I've never sung more beautifully than that 1 descant. I am *in french, called colorature* in english I guess just really really high soprano or first soprano. Wake is tomorrow, funeral the day after. Wish me luck!
Thanks for your support rebecca, I appreciate it.
I guess the word is empathic.... can never remember!
bim

My thoughts and prayer are with you all. It sounds like Sister McCallum was quite a kick. It's always good to have people like that.

Well guys
I miraculously made it through both the wake and the funeral. The wake was a weird, party type of atmosphere. just lots of jokes and stories. It was an open coffin, which i had a ton of trouble dealing with. I cried alot, but thats just the way I am! The funeral was a bit more somber. It was a big catholic affair, complete with the incense being swung. The hard part was singing with the choir. I told Sister MacCallum she was with God now, so could she please join Him in giving me the strength to sing!? So, I felt her smiling at me. I subsequently managed to "sing like an angel" *thats how she always referred to my voice* without crying at all. Though every single one of us *even the guys* burst into tears when we were done. At least i wasnt the only one! But I truly am proud of myself for making it through. It shows I have a strength of spirit that i didnt really think I had.

Thanks for all your support through this
I love you all for it
big hugs
bim

Glad you were able to make it through the wake and the funeral.

I'm sure that you sounded absolutely heavenly (pardon the word choice)

I'm proud of you for getting through this day! It must have been really hard... but probably a good thing for you to learn how much spirit you do have. Remember that, okay.

Best,

Jamie...
heavenly?

That brought an eye roll and a smile.
thanks for telling me about the strength I didnt know i had :-)

Love to you
bim

Bim, Love,
I thought about you as I was trying out "Blue Tango" and "Magical Merlin" on my bedroom walls yesterday. I even did a little singing myself.

Glad you made it through everything. Knew you would. Was there in spitit, wearing my red dress & hat. Thought sister McCallum would have liked the red - a daring touch. (Was actually wearing old shorts & tank top, all paint splattered.)

We should get together sometime. We could have fun singing duets! "And now, live from...(hmm, what's halfway between us?)...It's The Migraine Twins!"

Rebecca