Memorial for Grandpa Joe

Today was the memorial for grandpa Joe. Nathan was flying up from California, so it was my assignment to pick him up at the airport. This required a 5:45am alarm clock, followed by leaving the house at 7:20ish instead of 7:30. I got caught up in some traffic, as today was also the memorial for an officer who was killed in the line of duty. There was a procession on the freeway of sorts. I arrived at the airport at around 9ish. So about thirty minutes late to pick Nathan up, but that gave him a chance to eat in the airport. We swung by Jack in the Box and I got a sandiwich and a much needed caffeinated beverage. We sat and chatted. When Nathan looked up the directions to the church for the memorial, it ended up that it was only seven minutes away. It was 10am and the memorial didn't start till 1pm. So we drove down to the Des Moines waterfront and sat in the car and played on our laptops. Totally normal behavior for two adults in their twenties to be doing early on a weekday afternoon.

At noon, we were the first to arrive at the church. But Burt and Banetta (?) arrived shortly after. Then Ma, Pa, and Grandma. Then it was a steady stream of distant family relations. Cousin Annie. Joyce, Dick, Scotty. More Moerhles. Rolfe and Alison. Hans. Lots and lots of people that we largely unfamiliar. Alicia and Phoebe couldn't make it due to Phoebs being sick. Nathan agreed to do the second reading in her place, and I switched to doing the first and longer reading. Everyone seated and the priest did his thing. We sang, and Nathan and I were comrades in tone deafness. I saw we, I mean everyone attending. No one would ask either of us two to sing solo. I must thank the PNCA thesis oral process for giving me the strength to speak publicly. It is a big fear for a fair number of people, but not I. I'm not the best at it, but I don't mind doing it.

I do not know the Catholic traditions, and thus did not know when to speak in unison, what prayers to say, and so on. But that was okay. It was about half Catholic, half not, so it balanced out. The priest did the body of Christ thing.

Dad's eulogy was very good. Emotional, moving, and very much true to Grandpa.

After the service, we moved into the hall below and had snacks and drinks. A slideshow of scanned photos played. We all chatted with one another. Scotty recalled many tales of grandpa. I drank tea and chatted with distant relatives. All was good, and the flowers were plentiful.

At 4pm, things were packed up. Flowers into Joyce's truck. Scottie got some cookies. Grandma went back into the Prius to be delivered back to Mats Mats. Nathan and I returned to Seabeck. We raced Ma and Pa and Grandma a bit, but soon lost them. Ha ha!

I stoked a fire, Nathan showed me games, we ate soup and bread, we hot tubbed, I stoked the fire further, we watched stuff online, talked about future living arrangements, and all was good. Ma and Pa didn't get home till 10ish.