derekl_1963

What a weird week it was.

Tuesday - the Long Day begins.

We got up at 7AM, and hadn’t really slept well since Mom called on Thursday to give us the news. This will be important as this narrative proceeds.

Tuesday was spent finishing up preparations to depart - picking up a couple of paperbacks, getting keys to the folks watching our fish, cleaning out the refrigerator, etc... Brenda brought some fast food home for dinner and we got off to airport right on schedule. As usual, getting through security took much less time than predicted leaving us with time on our hands. I’d thought briefly of planning on getting dinner at SeaTac, but that would have meant eating after 8PM which seemed to be a non starter.

Finally we got on the plane and headed off into the great black yonder – at the wonderful (not) hour of 10.30PM. I’m none too fond of flying in the first place, and truly hate red eye flights – but this was earliest flight which would we could reasonably take which would get us there at a reasonable hour. (Flights at more reasonable hours would have potentially meant getting in at a time which could have required someone to leave the viewing to pick us up. Obviously this wasn’t happening.)

Wednesday – the Long Day Part II

Somewhere high over the Mississippi (or thereabouts) it became Wednesday; and we landed in Charlotte (NC) at about 6AM local time. Airline food sucks. Airport food can vary wildly. Airport breakfasts in Charlotte in the wee hours don’t so much suck as fail to resemble food as we know it.

Despite the pseudo sleep on the plane, and the pseudo food in Charlotte, by the time we reached Jacksonville (FL) we’d caught our second wind and were not feeling too bad. My heart sank a little when we got through the security gate and didn’t see anyone meeting us, and even further when there was nobody by the time we reached the baggage claim area. I knew this whole thing was being done ‘play by ear’, but there weren’t any messages on our phones either. Leaving Brenda to get our luggage off the rack I headed outside to get a smoke and to watch for anyone pulling up while I phoned home to see what was going on… As I was walking about a voice called “Hey Derek” – and I turned to see no one I recognized… But a few moments later I clued in that the figure waving at me was my cousin Kevin Paul – who turned out to have just flown in from Raleigh (NC) about 15 minutes earlier. He told me that his dad and another of our Uncles were coming to pick all three of us up. (And here I was thinking my Dad had finally made good on his threat to wait for a call to pick us up – something he hadn’t actually done in the past, mostly due to my Mom I think.)

When we finally got to Mom and Dad’s, it was right into the heart of the Maelstrom… as the majority of the relatives in town were there eating and talking. We spent the rest of the day getting caught up on family gossip and news.

In the evening we went to the viewing (which bothered Brenda, as she’d never been to one before) and to a mass at church. Afterwards, back to Mom and Dad’s for more food and more gossip/news/reminiscing.

Finally, sometime after 9PM, Aunt Maureen noticed Brenda and I had extremely glazed looks in our eyes… And still didn’t know where we were sleeping! She took charge and helped us get the couch in Mom’s sewing room unfolded into a bed and made up and basically ordered us into it – at about 10PM. Finally, after around 36 hours the Long Day came to an end.

Thursday – the Funeral.

Since the church is only five minutes away, and the funeral was at noon, I’d asked Mom to get us up at 11. Since my Mom is a sensible person and was not punch drunk, she got us up at 8. We could have slept far longer, but this gave us a chance to get a decent unrushed breakfast (needed since the services would run over two hours) and a leisurely shower.

The funeral mass and graveside service went off beautifully and little more needs be said about them. Getting from one to the other proved to be interesting however! I was supposed to drive a car in the procession (since Mom and Dad were in one of the limousines), but got turned around in the confusion of the parking lot and out onto the main road headed in theory in the general direction of the cemetery. I was quite worried and annoyed because one of my brothers was following me, and didn’t know any more than I did where the cemetery was! Sometimes however there is Divine Providence… I followed a car I was ready to swear (but wasn’t entirely certain) had left the church right ahead of us. But when we got to the cemetery, the car continued on without stopping!

Before we left the cemetery, my cousin Aaron took me back to my Aunt Anita’s (his mother’s) gravesite, and since I hadn’t been able to get home for her funeral I took a few moments to remember and say goodbye.

After the ceremonies, it was back to the church social hall for lunch – the ladies there (many of whom had known Grandma) did themselves proud.

After that it was out to my Uncle Terry’s for more family time and – more food. (Food is how Southerners deal with these things.) It was amusing watching all the little ones play in the yard – and watching Aaron scare the bejeezus out of some of the boys. They’d been riding and chasing each other around on a little electric powered car in the front yard… and when they got near his truck he hit panic button on his car-clicky-thing. Boom! A dozen little boys running like heck to get away from what they thought they’d done wrong! (My Mom, quite accidentally I’m sure, made me feel like one of them as the party wound down – she simply came up to me and said “get your coat and say goodbye, we’re going home”… aww Mom!)

Friday/Saturday

Not much to be said here – we’d stayed a couple of days extra because once having spent the money to get there, it only made sense to take advantage of it and get in some visiting. Other than my Mom and Dad and a couple of relatives who dropped by, we didn’t get much in… Pretty much everyone was, like us, staying home and quiet and recuperating.

Friday we went to the Knights Of Columbus fish fry for dinner – as much to save the energy we didn’t have as to get a chance to eat fish fried Southern Style. (Dipped in an egg wash, then cornmeal, and then deep fried to a crackly crunch.)

Saturday we went to Beach Road Chicken Dinner with a good chunk of the family – absolute heaven, the best fried chicken in the universe! Nigh upon seventy years in the same place serving basically the same menu, fried chicken plus sides, they have to be doing something right!

Saturday night I got an email from Expedia – offering tickets to Jacksonville for the next week… at a third of what I’d just paid. Its always the same, buy something and the next day it goes on sale.

Sunday – Headed Home

Our first leg, Jacksonville to Atlanta (GA) was interesting… When we got our boarding passes, I just gave them a quick once over and tucked them into my backpack – not noticing that the seat numbers, despite being adjacent, weren’t the ones on my confirmation email. It was Brenda who checked them as were figuring out which group we were supposed to board with who noticed they were First Class tickets… Somewhere alone the line we’d gotten a free upgrade.

Flying first class is always nice, even if it is just the hour and some hop from Jacksonville to Atlanta.

The Atlanta – to – Seattle hop had me a bit worried. Brenda and I were in the same row, but not adjacent. I had the window on one side, and she the middle on the other. It turned out the lady beside me was traveling alone and she happily swapped.

It turned out to be a good thing I’d asked Brenda to drive – when we got to the house the cold whose symptoms I’d started to get in mid continent was in full flush.

And thus ended a long week.