Weekend
It was a long weekend for me, and not in the “I’m on a vacation” kind of email.
My Uncle Bub’s funeral was Saturday. I took Friday off work, and headed to Texas. It took me about 6 1/2 hours to get there, which was a little longer than normal, but not a bad drive. I got to my destination about 7 PM MST, and immediately fell into my family. We were sitting around talking, looking at photos, and reminiscing about everyone that wasn’t there or that was already Gone Home. I found a ton of photos that I wanted copies of, and I didn’t have a scanner with me. I did have my laptop though. I ran into the neighboring town (about 12 miles away) and hit Wal-Mart before they closed.
The Wal-Mart trip was interesting. I walked around for a bit, and couldn’t find the electronics department. I finally stopped someone with a name tag and asked them where I could find a keyboard or a mouse. I figured those were pretty common computer parts and everyone would know what I was talking about. The lady looked at me like I was speaking Klingon. I broke down and asked her if they had computer parts. She pointed me to the electronics department. I went that way, and wandered around a few minutes without finding what I was looking for. I finally came across a woman in that department and asked if they had any scanners. She pointed back into the corned and said, “The police scanners are over there.” Ahh… rural Texas. I clarified things a bit and told her that I wanted a photo scanner for my computer. She pointed me in the right direction this time. Their selection was small, and all of them were the combo units: scanner, printer, and fax. Only one was a flatbed scanner (as opposed to a form-feeder), so that was the one that I got. It didn’t include fax capabilities, but that’s ok. I didn’t want that, and it saved me a few bucks.
I got back to the house, and didn’t get a chance to get things setup. DeNise needed help getting a video put together for the reception after the funeral. We were up until about 1 AM getting the video together. It finally came together and turned out really nice. I liked what we put together. I stayed up for a while longer (until about 2 AM) setting up the scanner and scanning photos.
The next day started about 9 AM, and I spent part of the morning scanning some more photos and talking to family. DeNise called me about 11 AM in need of help getting some audio visual stuff setup for the reception. We got that setup and working, and then headed to the church for a lunch thing that the church was doing for family and friends. We sat around, ate and talking some more. The funeral service was at 2:30, and there needed to be some more work done at the church for more A/V hook ups (which I did) and then back to the senior center getting some more stuff setup. We finally got done about 2 PM, and I headed back to the house to change clothes.
Some more relatives had shown up at this time, and we talked some more. I never did a chance to change clothes, but that’s ok. I enjoyed talking with my family. A little before 2:30 we headed to the church, and I managed to throw on a nice shirt in the parking lot before the service. The funeral service was nice, but it really hurt. It really drove home the point that Bub was gone. Most everyone was crying at various parts of the service. The part that made the cry the most was watching the honor guard fold the flag that went to my Aunt Vernelle, and listing to Taps play.
During the funeral, I was sitting in the second row right being B.T. (Uncle Bub’s younger brother), Melba (B.T.’s wife), and Sandra (B.T. and Melba’s daughter). I could see Vernelle and Bub’s children, Reese and DeNise. I could feel their pain in their loss. That’s when I said a prayer to ask God to give me their pain. I told him that if he had more grief and pain to give out than what they could handle to give it to me. I could handle it where I thought they may not be able to do so. I know that they will feel loss and pain for a long while, but I don’t want them to feel overwhelmed with their grief to the point where they could not continue to live their lives.
After the funeral was the reception, and which was more hanging out, talking, hearing stories of the past, and making plans for the future. Everyone wanted to know how Kiara was doing with her pregnancy, and everyone was very happy for us. There are a few more people that we need to email/call after the baby arrives. Another thing that constant happened to me was that people kept asking where my dad was at, how often I talked to him, why he wasn’t there, what he was up to, and what the status of my grandfather’s estate was. I was forced to make up some lame excuses for why my dad wasn’t there. I made sure that they were lame enough that everyone knew that they were lame excuses and that my dad really didn’t want to be there at all. That was the worst part of the whole weekend. Everyone knows that me and my dad don’t really get along all that well, but I went out of my way to make sure that I didn’t bad mouth him too much. I could go on and on about my dad, but that’s a post for another time.
Saturday closed out, and we went back to the house. I spent the rest of my night talking with my cousin Jeremy. We talked about the good old days back on the ranch, our childhoods, how things were simpler back then, and how we all missed it. I think I finally managed to crawl into bed around 2 AM.
Sunday was an early day. I got up around 7:30, hopped in the shower, and got ready for the long drive home. I didn’t want to leave, but I had my son’s baby shower to get to by 2:00 PM MST. The time zone change bought me an extra hour, but that barely managed to help things out. I managed to say my goodbyes, and get out the door around 8:30 even though my target was to leave by 8:00. During the A/V setup and tear down on Saturday, I lost my iPod patch cable. I didn’t realize it until late Saturday, and the person that supplied the A/V equipment was already gone. I went back to the Wal-Mart to buy a new one, but they didn’t open until 10 AM (Yeah, rural Texas, remember?) That meant that I was stuck listening to my one burned CD of songs. It actually lasted me until I almost got home. I let the CD repeat and start over again, but about 30 minutes from home I needed a change. I flipped to the radio for the first time in a LONG time.
I managed to get home at 2:05 for the baby shower that started at 2 PM. I got there before most people, so I was able to greet them as they arrived. The house was decorated and all fancy looking. Jhianna, Spice, Jasmine, Kiara, Campbells, and Craing did a good job on the house. I was quite happy to be home and around my friends.
The women did stuff, but the guys weren’t involved. We stayed downstairs, drank some beer, and watched a football game. It was good to relax for a bit after such a long weekend. After it was over, Kiara and I cleaned the house a small bit, took down the decorations (they looked yummy to the cats, I bet.) and finally fell into bed. I was in bed about 9 PM, and asleep almost right away.
It was good to see all of the friends and family and such that I got to see over the weekend, but I’m still not recovered. It was an exhausting time. I’m looking forward to the trip to Breckenridge in a few days to recover from my trip this past weekend.
