Yesterday Mother, W, and I dropped off Millie’s clothes to the funeral home. Mother wanted to see the family plot before any significant activity so we drove up and over the hill to the cemetery. Sadly Mother discovered that all of the shrubs, bulbed flowers and beautifully maintained landscaping had been removed. It was a shock for her to see the family plot looking so disturbed and it was an even bigger shock to discover the hows and whys. I probably shouldn’t get too detailed, but will just say that it falls under the sub-heading of family stuff that can’t be blogged.
After calming down we drove around the town to look at all of the various changes and new things. So many wonderful things have happened here but it certainly has transformed the feeling of this place to something quite unrecognizable. It’s just weird to be here to be honest.
After riding through the University campus we made a quick stop by Dr. Molly’s house so that Mother and I could get a hug and W’s Godmother could get some squeezing of W in. Then we drove over to the library so that I could show W all the work that his Great Grandfather had done.
The next stop was a good visit with family. W got to meet his Gran Ola and his Great Aunt E. He was not in Captain Adorable mode, but what can you do? The poor kid hasn’t had a “schedule” in over a month.
Today we will be attending church services with Dr. Molly and then we will attend the funeral of the husband of one of Millie’s closest friends. Then there will be dinner tonight with Mother’s brother and his family.
I got up 4am this morning so that I could run down to the grocery store to pick up the Sunday paper. And there Millie was. A photo I had taken of her a few years ago. An obituary that was beautifully written by Mother. An entire life summed up in two columns of black and white.
This is hard.
