(no subject)
Hey everyone,
I have survived one of the longest weeks of recent memory and have finally returned to campus to be surrounded by people who love me and most of the time understand me. St. Louis was fine.
The visitation was nice but it was 5 hours long and there were a lot of people there I didn't know. But we did have muscacolli (sp?) and I got to hang with some of my relatives I never get to see which was nice. I got to see my Krystal and Tabitha which was wonderful. They are probably the best behaved children on the face of the planet. Must have gotten it from their mother's side because I assure you they didn't get it from the Gioia side. That Woman (aka Dionne, my dad's third wife) put together a very nice slide show with pictures that Aunt Ruthie sent her; my only positive comment on her for the whole experience. The slide show was set to music with Grandma and Papa's wedding pictures showing during Remember When, pictures from my dad and his siblings growning up to "Somebody's Hero", pictures of me and the other grandkids growing up to "When I Get Where I'm Going", and pictures from stuff we've done together since Grandma got sick to "One More Day". Course now I know all the words because they played the slide show for FIVE HOURS but anywho. The funeral was really nice also. Since this was my dad's side of course we had a full Catholic funeral mass for the service. The four grandsons were the pall bearers with two of my aunts husbands as the other two. My cousin Anna gave one of the readings and she, Elizabeth, and I brought the gifts (wafers thingys and wine for communion and the holy water) down the aisle. My aunt Mary gave the eulogy that my aunt Ruthie wrote which worked out really well I thought. I came back to campus for about 3 hours on Thursday before heading out to Laurel for the Sanderson Farms Trip
We left campus about 1 and got to Laurel about 4 but we weren't really supposed to be there til 5 so we waited for a LONG while. We threw them way off guard getting there so early. But anywhoodles, the reception was at 5 and then we had dinner. At the reception, they served chicken strips and strawberries (yeah I thought that was a weird combo myself) and for dinner we had baked chicken with black eyed peas and sweet potatoes. At some point in all this we discover that after dinner we were then driving to McComb to spend the night because we had to get up by 5:45 to be ready to tour the hatchery, feed mill, and processing plant. I was not happy about this. So we made the two hour drive to McComb to spend the night at the Days Inn. The girl I was supposed to room with ended up backing out so lucky me got her own room for the evening which I'm very glad about because I was tired and would have probably been up all night otherwise. So we got up very early like 5:15 early and went to breakfast and then we toured the facilities. I learned a very important lesson...I am WAY TOO girly for the chicken business. Well the processing side of it at the least. We saw the entire process from live birds being hung upside down on the line to packaged in boxes ready to ship out. The hatchery and feed mill weren't too bad, though. Actually the feed mill was kinda cool because they have this awesome computer program that runs the entire operation and the operator in the control room can just click on the various pipes and mixers and things and control everything. I was impressed. After all the touring, we went to a restaurant called Mr. Whiskers which is about 3 tiems as big as the fish house that my family frequents in Hazlehurst where we had catfish, fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw. Again not thrilled because i don't eat catfish normally but I did try some. Finally we headed back north following the same route I use to go from Grandmother's to school. Last night when I got home, after my much needed shower, my most bestest favouritest roommate (to date) and her HLM took me to dinner at Zachary's where I had chicken tenders and Zifendel which made me very happy. We hung out for a while and then Carrie ended the evening curled up on the couch watching Mrs. Winterbourne. Today, I came to work and that's about it. Still have a ton to catch up on but I'm getting there.
I'd just like to say again how much I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers this week. It is so nice to come home and know that there are people here who care about me and what I'm up to. Love you all lots and I'll catch ya later.
I have survived one of the longest weeks of recent memory and have finally returned to campus to be surrounded by people who love me and most of the time understand me. St. Louis was fine.
The visitation was nice but it was 5 hours long and there were a lot of people there I didn't know. But we did have muscacolli (sp?) and I got to hang with some of my relatives I never get to see which was nice. I got to see my Krystal and Tabitha which was wonderful. They are probably the best behaved children on the face of the planet. Must have gotten it from their mother's side because I assure you they didn't get it from the Gioia side. That Woman (aka Dionne, my dad's third wife) put together a very nice slide show with pictures that Aunt Ruthie sent her; my only positive comment on her for the whole experience. The slide show was set to music with Grandma and Papa's wedding pictures showing during Remember When, pictures from my dad and his siblings growning up to "Somebody's Hero", pictures of me and the other grandkids growing up to "When I Get Where I'm Going", and pictures from stuff we've done together since Grandma got sick to "One More Day". Course now I know all the words because they played the slide show for FIVE HOURS but anywho. The funeral was really nice also. Since this was my dad's side of course we had a full Catholic funeral mass for the service. The four grandsons were the pall bearers with two of my aunts husbands as the other two. My cousin Anna gave one of the readings and she, Elizabeth, and I brought the gifts (wafers thingys and wine for communion and the holy water) down the aisle. My aunt Mary gave the eulogy that my aunt Ruthie wrote which worked out really well I thought. I came back to campus for about 3 hours on Thursday before heading out to Laurel for the Sanderson Farms Trip
We left campus about 1 and got to Laurel about 4 but we weren't really supposed to be there til 5 so we waited for a LONG while. We threw them way off guard getting there so early. But anywhoodles, the reception was at 5 and then we had dinner. At the reception, they served chicken strips and strawberries (yeah I thought that was a weird combo myself) and for dinner we had baked chicken with black eyed peas and sweet potatoes. At some point in all this we discover that after dinner we were then driving to McComb to spend the night because we had to get up by 5:45 to be ready to tour the hatchery, feed mill, and processing plant. I was not happy about this. So we made the two hour drive to McComb to spend the night at the Days Inn. The girl I was supposed to room with ended up backing out so lucky me got her own room for the evening which I'm very glad about because I was tired and would have probably been up all night otherwise. So we got up very early like 5:15 early and went to breakfast and then we toured the facilities. I learned a very important lesson...I am WAY TOO girly for the chicken business. Well the processing side of it at the least. We saw the entire process from live birds being hung upside down on the line to packaged in boxes ready to ship out. The hatchery and feed mill weren't too bad, though. Actually the feed mill was kinda cool because they have this awesome computer program that runs the entire operation and the operator in the control room can just click on the various pipes and mixers and things and control everything. I was impressed. After all the touring, we went to a restaurant called Mr. Whiskers which is about 3 tiems as big as the fish house that my family frequents in Hazlehurst where we had catfish, fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw. Again not thrilled because i don't eat catfish normally but I did try some. Finally we headed back north following the same route I use to go from Grandmother's to school. Last night when I got home, after my much needed shower, my most bestest favouritest roommate (to date) and her HLM took me to dinner at Zachary's where I had chicken tenders and Zifendel which made me very happy. We hung out for a while and then Carrie ended the evening curled up on the couch watching Mrs. Winterbourne. Today, I came to work and that's about it. Still have a ton to catch up on but I'm getting there.
I'd just like to say again how much I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers this week. It is so nice to come home and know that there are people here who care about me and what I'm up to. Love you all lots and I'll catch ya later.