low_delta

The funeral was nice. I like funerals becaues of the opportunity to learn more about the deceased. I was able to get a little feel for who my grandmother's friends were, and what the community thought of her. Less than I had hoped, though. It was good to see many of the relatives who showed up. Tears almost came at the end of the funeral, when everyone lined up to say goodbye to her one last time. On my own I don't cry, but the tears of others brings a reaction.

Grandma looked good for a dead person, but she didn't look like herself. In the last couple of years, she had been on some medication which caused her face to get a little puffy. It took some of the wrinkles out, though. So in the casket, since she was lying on her back, the puffy face had settled. It didn't look much like her. Her casket was sized for her, so it wasn't very heavy, but it was short, so we kept kicking each other's heels.

After the funeral the family all went back to the church, where they had provided dinner. That was nice to be able to gather to enjoy each other's company for a while longer. Except that I sat next to Uncle Ray. I heard the same stories about all the money he's made by buying houses and fixing them up, and all that stuff. Then we had to endure even worse harassment about why we weren't married yet. We'd promised him that the next time he saw us, at the reunion, we'd be married. We hadn't counted on seeing him sooner than that. And Mark got a lot of "helpful" advice from him on how to find a woman.

Every night some of us gathered in my dad's suite to drink some wine (or scotch) and chat. We got caught up with Aunt Jeanette. It was nice to see my cousin Mark. On the second night, we were joined by Everett and Thelma. They're fun.

On friday, we went to grandma's apartment to start clearing it out. There were seven or eight of us there in that small apartment, trying to empty all the closets, which were packed tight. My sister spent several hours on her bedroom closet. My dad spent several hours on her desk. I went through her four hall closets, but I didn't take much out of them. I also helped pack up her bookshelf. I felt kind of bad that I wasn't doing much real work. I mostly surveyed and took some things for myself. I didn't know what to do, and nobody had many suggestions. Cyn felt the same way.

I/we ended up with two boxes of things. A few books and some glassware. Some classical records. I'm trying to decide if I should be surprised that there was very little of sentimental value. There was a big magnifying glass that I used to use to burn wood, also and "I love grandma and grandpa" message that I burned for them. I also got the remainder of a set of silverware that grandma had given me a few years ago. She had bought it with money that she (they) had gotten as a wedding present.

My sister got grandma's china cabinet. We had to take it home in the station wagon, which meant Andrea couldn't ride back with us. And we barely had room for our stuff. It was a quick trip back, though. I hope dad's trip will be okay. He's coming back today, and there's ice and snow in the forecast all across Indiana.

On monday, my eye was irritated. I removed a couple of lashes, but it stayed irritated. By the day of the funeral, it was swollen and painful. That evening after the dinner, I found a clinic where the doctor told me I had a stye, and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. When I went to buy them, I found my new insurance card was no good, and I had to pay for them with my credit card. Then, the next morning we had a flat tire. The back of Cyn's car was out of alignment, and had worn through the tread on the inside side of the tire. That cost $70. Coulda been worse, though. At least it failed in the parking lot.

So now we're back at Cyn's and we have to drive up to my mom's to drop off the china cabinet. Andrea doesn't have room at her house and she needs to figure out how to break the new of it to her husband.