My Mother's Funeral

I woke up at 6:00 AM on Thursday. I have to leave around 8:00 AM for my Mom's funeral, so I didn't dawdle like I normal do these days.

I knew this would be a long day, so I thought I should eat breakfast. I scrambled three eggs and made two pieces of oat nut bread toast. I cooked the eggs and buttered the toast, then cut the toast in half. I managed to choke down (and I mean that quite literally) about half the eggs and one-half piece of toast. I offered the rest to the cats and, when they declined, threw it in the trash.

I shaved and showered, and then since it was still early, watched the news for a bit. I ran over my suit with a lint roller and got dressed.

Jake and Carla picked me up about 8:00 AM in the rain and we started on the long trek. Traffic wasn't too bad, so we got to New Baltimore about a half hour early. To kill the time (and to let me go to the bathroom), we went to the park. Then Jake got some gas and we went to the church.

We parked in our assigned place and went inside. People started arriving in droves and soon the vestibule was filling up (and getting quite warm). Finally, it was time to start Mass.

The service was very nice with little touches I appreciated. The pall bearers were one grandson from each brother's family, for example, and the readings were done by three of the granddaughters. Six of the great grandchildren took up the communion offerings. The sermon was excellent, too. And the solo singer had a pure, sweet voice.

After the service, we got in our cars and made the short, but slow, trip to the cemetery in a long procession (I think the funeral director said there were 39 cars in all). We had a short ceremony there. I had to sit down during it after all that "sit down, stand up" stuff at the Mass (my left knee was blown out).

After most of the cars departed, we finally left for the St. Mary's Center and a luncheon. Riese and Joe picked out a table way in the back, so we all gathered there. Luanne, Sue Plesz, myself, Jeremy, Jyl, Riese, Joe, Jake and Carla all sat at the same table (which was nice).

I assume we were supposed to sit up in front though, because once they started calling tables to come up to the buffet, my brother Jim came and told us to get in line as the brother's tables were called first.

At first I wasn't going to eat (because of my stomach problems) but I was hungry so I got a little salad and some cold pasta salad. It tasted good, but left me feeling a little queasy.

Finally people started leaving, so I asked Jake and Carla if we could go now. We made our goodbyes (not that easy or fast in a huge room were everyone knows you) and headed back home.

Traffic was light so we got home around 2:00 PM and I immediately took a pain pill. Jake did some more work on the computer while Carla and I sat on the daybed and we all visited. They left about 3:00 PM and I took about a two hour nap.

When I got up, I felt listless and more than a little depressed. So, I just putzed around for a while. My daughter Melissa called a little before 7:00 PM and we talked for about two hours. After we finished, I went in to watch some TV, but fell asleep around 10:00 PM.

I woke up about 1:00 AM, wide awake, so I watched taped shows until 3:00 AM. Then I went out to sleep in my chair.