Some of the things I don't want to lose:
- C's wife watching our boy so that E and I can go into the service together. She's the absolute model of decorum and charm the entire weekend.
- C's showing up in jeans and a blazer, because they'd packed in such a rush. They'd bought a shirt en route or he'd have been Sonny Crocket in jeans, Tee-shirt and a blazer. He's a champ, that one.
- Jen's in-laws watching her boys in the nursery. It is the only time I see any of them, it was as if they were there and gone between blinks.
- G's wife T giving me a hug before they go. G promising to give Notre Dame "my regards" as they drive by South Bend (in about seven hours).
- My little guy. Dressed up and happy to see everyone, oblivious to it all.
- BJ complaining to my mother that the coffee she was serving was "too strong yesterday, and too weak today." Well, thanks so much, BJ. Next time one of our immediate family dies, we'll be sure to double-check the coffee.
- One of my cousins telling me that dad often bragged on me to family. Something I could scarcely imagine, much less believe.
- Someone telling me at the internment. "Well, you're the man of the family, now." Biting back my first impulse, I opt for "Don't you say that."
- Talking with dad's cousin, DB at the internment. We have a nice talk and I float part of the eulogy I will never give- that dad was spared the one thing that I'm sure he could never stand: losing the ability to do things for himself. I shouldn't have said this to DB. Fortune has not been kind to his family, and that's a little too close to where he lives right now.
He says that it would be terrible to just exist, and not be able to contribute anything. I can tell he's upset - We change the subject.
- And Grandma. Such an undeserved hardship after such a charitable life. If there is a God, he's got a lot to answer for.
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