A Funeral

Last Thursday morning a dear friend died suddenly from a heart attack. The memorial service was Monday night. Jon had school right after work, and then a session meeting following that, so I dressed the kids up and hauled everyone to Gainesville for the service. It was about 5:45pm when we left the house. I hadn't had time to feed everyone with the hassle of cleaning them up and pulling on suits, etc.

We arrived at the church a little after 7, and the place was packed. It was standing room only, but fortunately the ushers found us a place in the "cry room". A cry room is a room attached to the sanctuary where you can see and hear but cannot be seen or heard. Very nice when church training your little people.

After the service, the front doors were thrown open and there in the front yard, under canopies, a supper was laid out. My clan didn't care about the food, they wanted to go play with all the kids. This was a small congregation, but lots of kids- 9 babies were born this summer, just to give you an idea. My children had such a great time. Gabriel found a happy home at the beverage table where he was ladled cup after cup of apple juice. He was in apple juice heaven. Vivian was not happy at all, being condemned to being in my arms the entire time when she wanted to wriggle free and explore the place.

Finally at 10pm I rounded them up and sent them to the car two at a time. My girlfriend was riding with us back home, and just as she was about to get into the Suburban, she let out a shriek. "Do you know what your son has?" she asked me. I said no, but I could take a guess- perhaps a lizard? It was a very large toad, and the grin on Charles face was priceless. My girlfriend let him know that he was not to let it loose in the car, very nicely. I was just hoping the thing wouldn't pee on Charles' blazer.

As we drove out of the parking lot and onto the road, the children chorused," Thanks, mom, for taking us to the funeral." My girlfriend looked at me and said," You really have to get out more."