Yesterday......I woke up, thinking about Earl not being next door, not driving his bright red Cadillac to Hardee's where he always met his coffee buds for an hour or two every morning to goad them, to kid them, to make them think, to make them a bit angry, but to drink coffee with his good friends, no matter which position on issues they each would take. No longer to happen now......
The 1st Lady and I went to Cape G., did a quick bit of shopping at the incredible/amazing sales that are going on at Penny's.......and then Becky went with us to visit with Mike. A great afternoon of conversation and then back to Becky's we went. There......I got to see Rachel with her new cello and she played a few little tunes on it for me, using both the pizzicato technique of plucking the strings, as well as showing me how to hold the bow and then she also played a tune with the bow..... I was sooooo excited to hear her....and, OMG....WOW...she is soooo good for such a really, really short time of studying the cello in her 7th grade Orchestra Class!!!!! Soooooo proud of her!!!!! Congrats and keep up the amazing work, Rachel!!!!!
Returning to the sticknbrick about 9pm, we both sort of crashed and burned. We are still in a state of shock at losing Earl.......I KNOW that I keep discussing this, but it has affected both of us very deeply. We have lived next door for 18 years.....and, as Earl told me while laying in the hospital bed just last Saturday.....that we have probably lived next door to him longer than anyone else....as he remembers.
Today.......the 1st Lady couldn't sleep....think she was bothered all night about his passing......and was up at 5AM......UGH!!!!! When I pulled my sagging hulk into a vertical position with my feet on the carpet.....I found her deep in work on the computer, putting together her Beta Sigma Phi Sorority program booklet for the coming "year"....Sept to June. Soon, she was off to the grocery store as we wanted to take some food over to Earl's house to help with those who would be staying there today and for the next couple of days.
Soooo, during the morning, I was outside working on deadheading the butterfly bush....several hundred dead flower stems that I haven't been able to take off this past week....and, then my phone rang and it was Andrea, Earl's youngest daughter. I told her I was in the yard, and she came right out.....and we had conversation about his last hours on Wed night and Thursday....and how he had coded out several times, but the Barnes-Jewish Hospital staff/doctors had brought him back.....and, as the morning went by on Thursday, it became apparent that nothing could be done, even though the medical team never gave up.
She asked me if I would serve as an honorary pallbearer for the funeral.....and I find myself humbled by that request, soooo willing to be of help on the day he is to be honored. We talked for quite some time and then a bit later the 1st Lady and I took some food over to them, as I said earlier. It was difficult for the 1st Lady to even talk about him with Andrea and her husband and daughter.......just a difficult time for all of us.
The rest of the day was spent in trying to be of help to them with answers to some of their questions about his newest truck purchase, the lawn, his upstairs a/c which was having problems, and just various other things. I gave them my password to our WIFI here at the sticknbrick, hoping that it would reach into their house, or at least to where they could access it. Told the family to just come on over to our place to use it whenever they needed to get online for any reason.
Allan, the young man visiting our neighbors across the street, mowed their lawn...and did a beautiful job. He is such a great young man.......I really do like him a lot.....and we always have fun trying to communicate with my limited Spanish and his limited English.....lots of laughs!
This evening, we had been invited to an "End of the Summer" party at the Seabaugh home and we had a great time with probably 30-40 people there. No one swam in their pool.....a bit chilly by late afternoon, but the food was great.....and then conversations were even better! A nice evening......and we needed to get away from here for a few hours.
And soooo, the day is over.....I drank a bit tooooo much of the dark red medicine.....but, we are back in the sticknbrick and looking forward to tomorrow. The funeral is on Tuesday morning with the burial in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in south STL Tuesday afternoon. Earl was a REAL hero.....not just in name only......from his WWII experiences and his life-long scars which he has always carried and are highly visible to one and all. A VFW member, he ALWAYS marched in the local parades, took part in all patriotic holidays and memorials........a true Hero he was, and always will be!!!
LIFE IS JUST REALLY GREAT!!!!!!!......And, I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment