Mom’s funeral service went well. My two brother’s, my dad and myself all spoke at it. Chris and I both did readings from the bible during the mass, Frank and dad both spoke at the service, and I’ll publish their words when they become available. It was a nice service.

The priest, Father Patrick, was a blessing. His homily about mom, was both personal and loving, except that he referred to her as an interior decorator. He was drawing an analogy between creating beauty in the home and creating beauty within the soul. Mom was an interior designer, not a decorator. Anne thinks that that is why one of the candles began to flare.

During the lulls in the service, the cries and laughter from the neighboring school’s children, could be heard, while they played in the school yard. Eventually, the sun broke through the clouds and its rays shone through the stain glass windows, which in part, helped me feel better than when I went into the church. I believe that is part of the purpose for a funeral.

After the service, the family adjourned to the cemetery for the internment. The priest said a few words, we all sprinkled her with holy water and then Dad placed mom’s cremated remains in the church’s mausoleum. Afterwards, we went to lunch. Not to end on a flippant note, but that is how it went down. Parts of the funeral are still a blur, parts of it, I am still processing and parts of it are just too personal.

After lunch, first the luncheon guests paid their respects one more time and then left the restaurant. Returning to the house, Frank,  Kathy and Tristan changed, said one more goodbye and then headed back to their home in Sutter. Tomorrow, Anne and I will leave too, leaving Chris and dad, home alone.

On a lighter note, or rather on a lighter note for everyone but Dan, his road trip east has not been going according to plan. In between starting later than planned and experiencing multiple mechanical breakdowns, his progress back to Saint Louis has not been what he had originally envisioned. Maybe that is a good thing though, because if he had progressed according to plan, he would have run smack into those terrible storms that hit Joplin. So maybe a little bit of auto aggravation isn’t such a bad thing.

Tuesday morning, Anne and I will get up at uh-oh dark-thirty, drive back down to LA and then fly back to the Lou. Weather permitting, we might actually beat Dan home. The following photo is from Chris’s camera. It is a HDR photo of the Carmel fire department.