Memorial for Elise

I am so pleased we were able to attend the memorial for Elise. It was held at the Unitarian Church in Swampscott, MA. It was a beautiful service.

So many of her friends - colleagues, clients, and neighbors were there. Elise was a friend and mentor to all. I am sure, her husband, Roger felt surrounded by love.

Whether it was someone reading from her high school yearbook inscriptions or coworkers telling how she mentored them or clients telling how she was such a good friend - the theme was the same - Elise was loved by many and every single person felt loved by her.

A reading from Patricia Lynn Reilly was read that so encompassed how her friends saw Elise:

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman, a woman who honors her experience and tells her stories, one who refuses to carry the sins of others within her soul.

Imagine a woman who believes she is good, a woman who trusts and respects herself, who listens to her needs and desires, and meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present, a woman who has walked through her past who has healed into her present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life, a woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf, who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and to her wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who finds the Divine in herself, a woman who imagines the Divine in her image and likeness, who designs her own spirituality, and allows it to inform her life.

Elise was very humble and saw herself as a work in progress. Everyone I talked to after the service felt as if Elise cared very much about each and every one of them.

It was such a blessing to spend time with her friends remembering her life.

We are on our way home trying to outrun the winter storm predicting 6-8'' of wet heavy snow! Say prayers for a safe drive.