Went To A Garden Party
It is hard to believe that it has been six months since my mother, Sonja Behnke Festerling, passed away. Last week we had a Garden Party to celebrate her beautiful life, or as I like to call it, Sonja’s Last Big Bash.
Six months of going through thousands of photos, planning, and worrying were well worth the effort. Many of you know that I was a little bit of a mess, thinking I should have had this sooner. However, now that it is over, it was perfect.
My mom loved garden parties, so we had it at a local park. For days before this garden party, I kept hearing the Song, Went To A Garden Party by Ricky Nelson. .And while I knew we needed rain, I must admit; I was praying for no rain! Prayers were answered.
As her husband gave me boxes each day since she passed of so many photos of her life, along with scrapbooks and photo albums of where she traveled, I wanted to share some of these memories with you. If you have sadly had to plan something like this for your loved one, you know how hard it is to pick out just a few things to try to cover someone’s entire life.
Maybe because Mom had so many memories stolen from her by Alzheimer’s, I share so much of her life at this garden party.. My daughter, Jaimie, read a poem I found that said perfectly how I felt about Mom at the end. Two Mothers Remembered by Joann Snow Duncanson.
It was a lovely memorial celebration on a beautiful day for a lovely, beautiful and wonderful woman! <3
I am so glad you could make it to Mom’s last big party! Now comes the task of packing everything away for future generations to uncover and see what a wonderful woman she was.
What a beautiful way to remember your mother. I don’t believe I ever got to meet her, but my family & I were patrons of Behnke’s from the time I was 6 years old, up until it closed. I’ll be 66 soon. Thank you for sharing her life with us!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write. I share so much because I like to think that maybe down the road, others will happen to open this website and say, Oh hey, I knew Sonja! Or I knew Behnke’s. They say things on the world wide web never go away. 🙂 Thank you for choosing to have Behnke’s as your garden center of choice!
Steph- it was just lovely…perfect! She was smiling down on you for sure! Everything you selected to depict her life and the amazing person she was…all wonderful 💕
Be well with your sweet memories of her and all that she did…the apple did not fall far from the tree…you are your mother’s daughter ♥️
J.
Thank you so much Judy for your kind words. I think she would have loved it!