We are back from Florida, what a week. I want to write about it, but it’s been hard because thinking about it makes me cry.

The hardest part was seeing Ed’s sister Colleen so devastated. Colleen is the sweetest person I know, and very involved in her kids’ lives. She seemed to lose fifteen pounds during the week.

Kelly’s wake was at the church the night before the funeral. All of her uncles were pallbearers, and because Ed was also her godfather, he placed her bible on the casket after it was brought into the church. The first hour was family only, and included a very touching slide show set to music that Kelly’s sister Caitlin made.

There were about a thousand people at the public wake, but they had to cut off people waiting in the receiving line after two and a half hours so that they could have a ceremony and blessing. Colleen stood that whole time, in heels, as kids and friends hugged her. She said later that the whole right side of her hair was sopping wet with tears by the end. After the short ceremony (which was like a mini-funeral), the pallbearers took Kelly’s casket to the “crying room” which is the children’s church room, where she lay in state overnight. Six parents from her school stayed up with her all night.

I thought there would be fewer people at the funeral itself, but I was wrong. We got to the church almost an hour early to avoid traffic and so Ed could get his boutonnière, and the church was already almost full. I realized the side aisles were full of people standing, and that people were standing in the back, but did not know until we walked out afterward that the entire vestibule was full of people standing, and there were hundreds more standing outside the church for the entire hour and a half service. I heard estimates of 1500 and 1800 people. The Reen family is well-respected in the church and school community, and Kelly herself was always known for having lots of friends. Seeing all those kids crying when they saw the casket was hard. Hardest for me was seeing Ed’s brother Jim break down in the crying room after the wake, and seeing Ed break down outside the church after the funeral.

The funeral itself was beautiful. The school’s band and chorus played, and Kelly’s sisters Lauren and Caitlin gave readings. The rest was a standard formal Mass of Christian Burial, very touching. As Kelly’s casket was carried out of the church, the chorus sang “Danny Boy”, but with the words “Kelly Girl”. A sad song that will sound even sadder now.

The procession to the cemetery was impressive. Colleen and Tom have a friend (his daughter was Kelly’s friend) who is a police officer, I believe highly ranked. He coordinated the motorcade, which passed through three cities, and I’ve never seen anything like it. There were dozens of police cars and motorcycles, and all of intersections were well-blocked. It was a long procession, so a lot of people were late for appointments I imagine. We also heard two tickets were given, one to a car that almost hit the limousine carrying the immediate family. Kelly’s little brothers at least got a kick out of that.

At the cemetery, there was a lone bagpiper, and they released three white doves, both touches arranged by friends. I will probably never again attend a funeral like that one. The outpouring was amazing. Colleen said later that Kelly always wanted the best of everything, and she got it. And Tom said “yeah, and she would have been pissed to know she missed such a huge party”.

After the reception the whole family changed into shorts and went back to Colleen and Tom’s house. Their friends have arranged food to be delivered for all meals for the next few weeks, and that night they had made sure to have enough to feed all the relatives. The relief of having the funeral over was evident, and I could finally see Colleen start to relax. Despite it being Lent, those Catholics who had given up alcohol (including Tom) took a break from that for the week, so it turned into a nice family reunion party, with the boys swimming, and Colleen and her brothers trading stories about growing up, with a lot of laughter and no tears. Tom said Saturday “wow, we went through a lot of booze this week”. Well, they are Irish! In fact, Tom’s parents are from Ireland. He said he didn’t want things to be too somber, Kelly was too full of life for that. And on Saturday they went to mass as a family, and then out for chicken wings after because spicy wings were Kelly’s favorite food.

Oh, I wish it was possible to go back in time and just change one second of it.