Celebration of a Life

Yesterday, I went to my friend Sam's funeral and burial. What a beautiful service it was; Sam would have loved it. It suprisingly didn't rain. Sam is buried near her four miscarried babies. I just know she is up in Heaven holding them and looking down on us all and smiling. I've definitely felt her presence around me. Here is her
obituary:

Samantha Rae Fuller lost her battle with cancer on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 12:18 p.m. in Oregon. She was 27 years old.

Samantha was born in Cannon Falls on September 1, 1981 at 12:18 p.m., the daughter of Kristi (Norstad) and Robert Fuller.

She fought two courageous battles against childhood leukemia at the ages of 3 and again at 6, and won! She attended Elementary and High Schools in the Beaverton, Oregon area.

Samantha was a young woman with a perpetual smile. She always had an amazing glow of happiness on her face and was always concerned about everyone around her. Sam had a wonderful heart and soul and will be missed by many. Her charming personality, wit and awe of life has impacted everyone who knew her. She leaves a big hole in our hearts.

She is survived by her parents Kristi (Norstad) and Robert Fuller, her sister Alyssa Fuller, and Samantha’s fiancé’ Nick Fleming and his family, all of Portland, OR. She is also survived by many aunts and uncles, RoseAnn (Norstad) and Jake Lindsey, Orlando and Kathy Norstad, Gary and Mary Norstad, Jim and Bonnie Norstad, Bob and Martha Norstad, Steve and Linda Norstad, Jarle and Debra Norstad, Deb Norstad, MaryLee (Fuller) and Darryl Nelson, Kathy (Fuller) and Tom Favilla, Steve and Laurie Fuller, and Liz (Fuller) and Matt Nelson; and many cousins and friends. She also loved her two cats, Sophie and Yoda.

She is preceded in death by her four miscarried babies. Sam wanted to be a mother so much and now the Lord has put her little babies in her arms. She was also preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Lee and Mary Ann Fuller, and maternal grandparents, Orlando and Edna Norstad.

She will be forever in our hearts, and missed forever!

Funeral service will be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Finley-Sunset Hills Mortuary in Portland, OR. Burial will follow at Mt Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Portland. A visitation will be held on Monday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Finley-Sunset Hills Mortuary.

She will be missed but not forgotten. Thank you Sam for your friendship. The impact you've had on me and my life will last forver. Sleep well, my dear friend.

A dream partially fulfilled...

Today, in the US is Martin Luther King JR day.

Here's an excerpt from his famous "I Have a Dream" speech:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

So, my fellow Americans let us celebrate this great man and another one hopefully, President-elect Barack Obama. Part of MLK Junior's dream has been fulfilled. Let us hope that all of our dreams are fulfilled. We are witnessesing history in the making.