Long Day

I should be in bed, but I wanted to scratch out a few words about today before the memory of it dissolves into nothing.

It began early. At 5 am the alarm shook me awake long enough to reach over and silence the evil thing. I instantly dove back into sleep and in another instant the wretched piece of machinery was screaming again. This time my wife got up and some of the kids were awake so I couldn't get back to snoozing as eazily. We packed everybody in, got our "Sunday clothes" ready, and took off. This time I made sure the deadbolt was locked. (I must take a moment to say that I'm glad I didn't lock the car door the other day. I'm missing a stereo, but I'd have to deal with a broken window as well. So it was for the best.)

Everyone was hungry, so we stopped at Mickey D's. This put us behind schedule and stressed me out a little. We listened to the rest of the "Swiss Family Robinson" audio book. They sure had everything they needed just in the nick of time, didn't they. I got the book mostly for my kids, but I enjoyed it, too. I thought the language might be a bit overhead but they astonished me by actually listening to it. They even asked questions and speculated about why a certain event was happening.

We arrived later than we expected. When we got to my mom's house there was a note on the door that said, "We're at the church. Please join us." We spent another ten minutes coaxing the kids to change into their church clothes and then raced to the church. We weren't late. My dad's twin brother arrived at the same time we did.

The service was nice. A lot of very nice things were said about my Grandfather. I still can't believe he's gone. It's going to take some time for that to sink in. My brothers and I sang a hymn. We were also, along with our California cousins, the pall bearers. I, being ten years older than the next oldest bearer, let the other guys do most of the work. My back, with it's missing disk, and my hernia wouldn't hear of anything else.

We drove the two miles to the cemetery, and carried the casket to the plot next to my Grandmother's. After the graveside service we went back to the church and had dinner. I'd like to say that I got to know some of my relatives, but I mostly just hid from them. I'm no good at small talk and I just didn't konw what to say. I'm afraid they take it as arrogance or dislike. That couldn't be further from the truth, especially with my mom's brother's family. I admire them so much. They're all so well-manered and nice, but I don't know how to talk to them. I'm sure they think I feel I'm above them, too good for them. Oh well.

My four-year-old sat next to me across from my dad and his twin. My boy leaned over to me and said, "There are two grandpas." It's fun to see how each of my kids responds to seeing their grandpa's carbon copy. They call him Uncle Grandpa and often confuse the two.

After the dinner, we let the boys get some of their wiggles out on the trampoline. My parents' house is on a big lot next to a wheat field. There's a lot of space out there and I think that's why my children like it so much.

We blew yet another $35.00 on gasoline and headed back. I was afraid to go in the house, almost certain that I find everything gone. But it was all still there and I let out my breath.

People ask me how the funeral was and I tell them it was nice, but nothing compares to the brief time I spent with him just before he died. That was all the funeral service I needed.