DATELINE - Springfield, Illinois, 23 April 2002: My grandmother, Marjorie Juanita FINK Ivey was delivered to her final resting place today. The family gathered for a small, but memorable service at Roselawn Cemetery. When the service started at 10 am, it was 5 pm in Germany, where my cousin Kathy FINK Godsave and her son, Kyle are sending a balloon skyward in memory of their Aunt Dot. When I returned home from the service, I wrote to several family members about my trip. I knew Kathy had sent off the balloon, so I asked her how it went. Here's what she said...

"I sent up the balloon, even though it wasn't exactly what I'd anticipated.  It was a huge dolphin balloon with lots of blues in it.  I wrote, "Miss you Aunt Dot--1915-9/10/2001" & Kyle & I released it in the air from our balcony & watched it go over our roof and into the woods (it even got caught in a treetop for about 5 minutes before the wind knocked it loose).  We watched from our front door as it floated very quickly after getting untangled & it disappeared into the sky so I hope Aunt Dot is enjoying her huge dolphin balloon."

I thought about what Kathy's balloon did, and this was my reply to her...

"It's ironic that the balloon got caught in a tree before it took off to the sky. Almost like how grandma died. She took off for the sky in September, but didn't
make it (because of the attacks the next day). So she waited in the tree until it was safe. Just like we waited until now to bury her. Now she is free to go, just
like the balloon when it broke loose from the tree."

 Submitted by Mark Wakenshaw                        HomePage: http://www.keysdog.com