I’m so grateful for folks praying for us on Friday. Now that we finally have the official death certificate, my mom and I went to Houston to get the probate process underway. We didn’t get home till after 10pm, but it was a very productive day.

We got the probate papers filed at the courthouse and submitted more paperwork at the bank (I’ll have to go back in person after probate is complete, but I should be able to take care of that on a Saturday morning). We went by my parents’ old church to get the secretary to notarize the forms, which was a double blessing to see the staff and pastor. We also spent some time with my mom’s best friend who has cancer.

We went to the Magnolia police dept to pick up the official report to file with the life insurance, and the chief told us that the detective who reported first to the accident would be on duty later in the day, so we back-tracked to have a chance to talk to her. It was nice, in a painful but cathartic sort of way, to talk to her. She is also an EMT with 13+ years of experience, and she shared with us that when she first saw Nathan, she didn’t even think his wound was fatal, though it’s hard to tell how much internal bleeding someone has. She reiterated what the chief and others had already told us – just how impressed they were at his demeanor and attitude. It makes me so proud of him to realize that he kept his composure to shield the boys from trauma.

We made the rounds between Conroe/Spring/Magnolia and were tired of being in the car by the time we got home, but all in all, it was a fast-paced and very full day. I don’t know that I would call it “closure,” because I don’t expect it ever really feels like it has come to an end, but it was definitely fulfilling to feel like we accomplished something.