Saturday, June 19, 2010

Vacation and the Memorial Service

Today begins a two-week vacation for me (plus an extra day for the observance of the 4th of July) and, by coincidence, is also my Dad's memorial service, Skip and I are leaving the house early this morning to allow for the trip down to Cape Cod with an extra hour or so in case of heavy traffic. After all, we've hit the summer season and Saturdays are when weekly rentals switch over, so there can be a lot of traffic onto the Cape in the morning.

I am looking forward to and also dreading a bit the service. It will have a lot of music and a eulogy by an old friend of my parents' who is a retired Unitarian minister. I am very interested to hear the eulogy but know it will be very sad. Skip's companion, MW, offered to come along and help out since I'm going to have a lot of social/family obligations, especially during the reception to be held after the service. MW's sister is coming over to watch the dogs.

My siblings and I will probably say a few words during the reception. I've been thinking here and there all week about what I'd say and so far have some notes along the lines of "what my Dad taught me." These include things like how to wield an axe, how to drive a tractor, hard word won't kill you and how to age well. I'm struggling with how I'll get in some funny stuff and then some serious stuff without getting maudlin. Maybe, at the end, I'll not say a thing. We shall see!

Well, a million things to do before we head out, so I will wrap up now. Have a wonderful day, wherever you are.