A new teacup I will treasure

I've heard of a few women doing this before, but until yesterday, I'd never received a teacup at a friend's funeral! A longtime friend and fellow church member, Brenda, passed away a few weeks ago. She was old enough to be my mother, and indeed, Brenda was a mother figure to many of us in Newnan. She was absolutely devoted to God, family, and country, and the last time I saw a photo of her, I believe she was in DC planting flags and flowers, which was a very "Brenda" thing to do! After her beautiful service, which included the sharing of condolences from Georgia's First Lady and the Georgia Senate, I went down to our reception hall to pay my respects to her family. Once I did, another friend pointed out all of Brenda's teacups spread out on the tables. We were each supposed to choose one, and then I was directed to tables full of gift bags that had been stuffed with newspaper for getting our teacups safely home. Is that not a brilliant idea? So here's the teacup I got, along with a pretty "tree of life" key chain that was inside.

Brenda was even shorter than me, and I'm just five two, but she was considered a redheaded firecracker by those who knew her. She got things done and was a devoted member of many national societies like the DAR, where she was often a leader. As I looked around at her teacups, I caught sight of a pretty and *petite* one with roses on it, and I knew that the small cup would remind me of my petite but powerful friend.

When I got home, I was about to toss my gift bag when I felt something inside that wasn't newspaper. It was a stroopwafel cookie and a tea bag, so basically, Brenda's family gave us all a tea party as her parting gift. Can you think of a better way to say goodbye to your friends? I can't, and I look forward to telling her "thank you" when I see her again in Heaven!