The last few days

We left Tuesday morning to get to my hometown in time for my Grampy's viewing. It was kind of awkward walking in. I've only been to a handful of viewings in my life, and even fewer funerals. I walked in the funeral home with Brian like it was no big deal. My Godfather is the funeral director and always has some sort of smart ass comment. But Tuesday, he came up to me and was very serious and gave his condolences. It was weird to say the least. I shrugged it off like it was no big deal, then walked through the spacious room. I caught a glimpse of my family gathered in a huddle laughing and talking. "This will be no big deal," I thought. Everyone's in a good mood, this will just be a formality. That was until I saw to the right Grampy laying in a gray silver casket. He was dressed nicely in a suit. I think I've only seen him in a suit maybe three times in my life. He looked very peaceful with a rosary in his hands. I was very happy he looked like himself. I've been to a few viewings where people don't even resemble what they looked like alive. His old worn in white Yankees cap was cleaned up as best as it could be and resting at the end of the casket, along side of a new NY Yankees cap and a Don Mattingly baseball card. Everyone knew he loved the Yankees. I guess a guy named Butch who owns the local bar Grampy used to visit would yell, "here comes Mattingly!" when Grampy would walk in. It was only appropriate to have the Mattingly card laying on him. Butch got a kick out of it when he came to pay his respects.

We spent three hours there. There was a good showing. This was the first family member that died where I had to stand in the receiving line or whatever its called. I didn't really like that. Most of the "I'm sorry's" I heard were just as awkward as the "thank you's" I replied back with. It reminded me of my wedding where after I'd thank someone for coming I'd have to turn to one of my older family members to figure out who I just thanked. It was nice running into some people I haven't seen in 10+ years. And two of my closest friends came by to pay their respects. That meant a lot to me.

After the viewing we had a "party" at my parents house. My mom's friends set everything up while we were gone. When we got home there was all kinds of food, desserts, and drinks. Let me tell you, WW went out the window the last few days. The food was so delicious and the desserts were even better. I tried to keep my portions small, but I'm sure even those portions were high in points. I'm not stressing about it. When we get home tomorrow its game on for eating good and working out again. Brian and I have a Body Pump class scheduled for Saturday. (I'll have to tell you the story about the Spin class we did together, later.)

The funeral was yesterday. It was very sad to say goodbye for the last time at the funeral home. The service at the church was very nice. Father Albert is just so sincere and speaks directly to the family. There were a lot of tears shed, but Father had this way to make you feel better. I told Brian its like us going to the counselor and having her view a bad situation in a positive light. We were impressed at just how many people showed up for the service. The nice thing was all the people there were people who actually mean something to one family member or another. Grampy was 89 when he died, so honestly, most of his friends have passed years before. But, it was nice to see my family was supported in the way they were yesterday.

There was a nice buffet luncheon (God, do I miss PA food!) at a local restaurant after the cemetery. We have enough leftovers for the next week I think. We all needed a nap after that. Between being full and the stressful day that was had, everyone was at their breaking point.

Today, I'm meeting mom at Grampy's apartment. We are going through his stuff, really so I can find things that are meaningful to me. I want the "thumbnail" drawings we did. My dad said he found post cards I sent Grampy from school trips. Grampy was a pack rat. He threw nothing away. When we were Seniors in high school, Laura gave me a memory box as a gift. I've continued that tradition having one from high school, college, family stuff and hopefully starting today, one for Grampy. After collecting some stuff, Mom and I are going to a bead shop across the street to make jewelry. My mom is close friends with the owners. Their bead shop, The Portable Playhouse, is a non-profit business that lets hospitalized sick kids make jewelry. They used to just work out of hospitals, but recently opened the bead shop in town. If you are ever looking to donate money just because or in memory of someone, consider this organization.

Things are getting back to normal, today. Closure was definitely had yesterday and now we are picking things up and moving on. It's not going to be easy, especially for my mom, but she'll be okay. She knows both of her parents are with her now in spirit. She has good friends to support her.

Tomorrow, we'll be leaving PA at the crack-ass of dawn. We are headed directly to the kids grandfather's house in time to walk Bella to school. Her first day of kindergarten was Wednesday. We were were scheduled to work so we were going to take her to her second day of school. With all the events of this week we asked her if it was okay to take her on her third day which she was okay with. It will be an early start for us, but its worth it.

Side note, my moms cat is snoring. I've never heard a cat snore. Oh, wow, how could I forget? Yeah, so my dad went out in the garage last night without the lights on and heard some rummaging. Knowing he was the only one supposed to be in the garage there was something wrong. He went snooping around and found a baby skunk. Yeppers, a baby skunk was hiding in a corner of stuff. How the hell do you get a skunk out of the garage? He just turned the lights off and left the door open. We have no idea if it left but we didn't want to get sprayed by stink either. I looked for it this morning (Brian wanted me to get sprayed. Isn't he a nice boyfriend?) but didn't see anything. I'm convinced they sleep during the day. I think he'd be cute to see all little and furry. But then again, I don't want to be sprayed. So, who knows if he really moved out last night. I guess I should do some research to see their normal schedule of sleeping, etc.