a what and a what?
So the pictures from the family picnic memorial service ended up in my spam folder so I fished them out. And as predicted, everyone had a fine time without me. The lack of phone calls or email told me I wasn't wanted up there, but even without that the pics pretty much prove it. I'm reminded of that sarcastic line in the movie Broadcast News about "it must be wonderful to be right all the time" and Holly Hunter answers completely seriously, "No, it's awful." Yeah, like that. Only aware of the snark.
ETA: and it was loaded on some weird gallery type webpage that took two hours to load just the 60 or so pics from the service. Didn't bother looking at the rest, I would have been up all night again. I might later, but from the looks of them it's not ten or twelve pictures of each family, it's the same picture twelve times over. No sense waiting for that to load.
Anyway, as predicted it was some new age "let's all stand in a circle" thing, officiated to some degree by the uncle who got one of those mail order licenses to marry people and now thinks he's the designated family minister or other. Then everybody apparently stood around and told stories or memories about mom. The same people who didn't want to hear any of mine.
But this is what really gets me. They left a space in the circle, and this is what they put there. Apparently this is either some weird ass new age altar offering or it's supposed to represent Mom:
a yellow rose, and a birdhouse. So, what, are we to infer from this, that she liked birds and Texas? Or was the birdhouse supposed to be some ersatz church? No, seriously: that was the best they could come up with? No wonder they didn't want my input.
I don't even have to think hard to know what Mom would have made of this. She would have tilted her head down, peered over the tops of her glasses, and give me the "you have GOT to be kidding me" look. I mean she would have appreciated the gathering itself, but her perpetually stuck in the 60's sisters would have had her shaking her head and laughing for weeks.
Seriously. Birdhouse and a single yellow rose. Now I wish I'd gone, I'd have brought an armadillo and a ping pong paddle to go with them. Would have made just as much sense.
My sister in law emails me yesterday and says my dad was "sad and disappointed" I wasn't there. Yeah, it shows in the pictures. And the silence. I know I was sad and disappointed, but who cares how I feel, right? It's about everyone but me, remember?
Oh and apparently Chris's friend--the one they had room for in the car, after they said they didn't have room for me--had a great time. He's smiling and boozing it up quite nicely in the pictures. So I guess it all worked out.
ETA: and it was loaded on some weird gallery type webpage that took two hours to load just the 60 or so pics from the service. Didn't bother looking at the rest, I would have been up all night again. I might later, but from the looks of them it's not ten or twelve pictures of each family, it's the same picture twelve times over. No sense waiting for that to load.
Anyway, as predicted it was some new age "let's all stand in a circle" thing, officiated to some degree by the uncle who got one of those mail order licenses to marry people and now thinks he's the designated family minister or other. Then everybody apparently stood around and told stories or memories about mom. The same people who didn't want to hear any of mine.
But this is what really gets me. They left a space in the circle, and this is what they put there. Apparently this is either some weird ass new age altar offering or it's supposed to represent Mom:
a yellow rose, and a birdhouse. So, what, are we to infer from this, that she liked birds and Texas? Or was the birdhouse supposed to be some ersatz church? No, seriously: that was the best they could come up with? No wonder they didn't want my input.
I don't even have to think hard to know what Mom would have made of this. She would have tilted her head down, peered over the tops of her glasses, and give me the "you have GOT to be kidding me" look. I mean she would have appreciated the gathering itself, but her perpetually stuck in the 60's sisters would have had her shaking her head and laughing for weeks.
Seriously. Birdhouse and a single yellow rose. Now I wish I'd gone, I'd have brought an armadillo and a ping pong paddle to go with them. Would have made just as much sense.
My sister in law emails me yesterday and says my dad was "sad and disappointed" I wasn't there. Yeah, it shows in the pictures. And the silence. I know I was sad and disappointed, but who cares how I feel, right? It's about everyone but me, remember?
Oh and apparently Chris's friend--the one they had room for in the car, after they said they didn't have room for me--had a great time. He's smiling and boozing it up quite nicely in the pictures. So I guess it all worked out.