(no subject)
I almost passed out last night at Brett's mom's funeral.
They asked people to share their memories of Ginger. I rolled something over in my mind that I thought needed to be said. After a long silence, Brett stood up and held back tears as she spoke to her mother's best qualities. Then she sat back down. Another long silence followed. The pastor asked if there was anyone else...another pause...then I stood and said what I remembered. All eyes were on me. Only seven sets of those eyes were familliar. The rest were strangers. I sat back down. My heart was in my throat; blood pounded in my ears. And then the pastor said:
"I didn't know that about her."
My heart stopped.
Had I been talking about the wrong person? At her funeral!!!!!
So, I couldn't stop the room from spinning for the remainder of the service. Afterward I asked, and it turned out that I was right and justified in standing up. Brett thanked me for "re-breaking the ice," because after I sat down, many family members stood up and took their turn sharing their memories.
That was the best part of the service. The rest seemed to focus on tired religious stories to try to comfort the family. I don't know that it accomplished that. There are some things you just can't explain at the time.
The rest of this post has nothing to do with the funeral. It's me explaining some things that I meant to post earlier. Then I'll tell my New Year's resolutions. It's all very skippable.
Why didn't I stand up when called into court?
I had no idea they were calling 4 names. When they got to the second part of Tangwystl's last name, I tuned out. I tuned back in at the word "Cock", and started looking around, and even asking, but no one knew for sure if I had been called.
Yeah, but why didn't i stand UP?
I honestly thought we were supposed to remain kneeling in court, so I kept bowing. It didn't help that I was a head taller than the other folks up there (and at least a full foot taller than Tangwystl). Like most of my attempts not to stick out, it backfired. Still, I must say I was flattered, honored, and elated to receive a polished mirror. The scroll was beautiful. Tangwystl (yes, the same one who was standing beside me) had painted "me" onto it in my red sideless surcoat with the fur trim and my completely-different-period hat.
Why was Ice Castles in Bland?
When Luther made the bid, it was for the Boy Scout Camp he had reserved at exit 105 on I81. After being awarded the bid (there were no others), he found out that the BSA camp cuts off their water in winter--no exceptions. So, he went to plan B: the school near where he lives was built as a combined elementary / HS with two gyms. They were fine with him reserving the whole thing. But he ran into the same derned problems I used to run into doing 4-H stuff at CCHS. School activities take precedence. Snow days meant rescheduling a basketball game on a Saturday, cutting short our time in the big gym. Custodians didn't show up with the keys to let us into locked rooms. The head of the cafeteria refused to let us use "their" room. (With 4-H stuff, the band director used to lock us out of "his" band room at CCHS.) There was also the usual lack of communication from the school about what was expected of the custodial staff and what we were expected to do for cleanup.
It sounded like overall, folks had a good time, but these are hiccups I will have to keep in mind if I ever autocrat Ice, which I would consider doing in either Radford or Abingdon. The Abingdon 4-H center is ideal, but I don't want to hear the "middle of nowhere" complaint.
Why bother with New Year's resolutions when January is already over?
Well, my priorities keep changing. I have goals, but it took me 'till now to come up with the resolutions that go with them.
The goals: Get my professional engineering license, stain my deck, plant my retirement trees, balance my commitments to friends and family, be a good friend/neighbor/daughter/girlfriend/4-Her/Scadian/engineer/coworker/etc., and be the best catmom I can be.
The resolutions: Over the course of the year I will sew something from each pattern I have, print out the pictures I take and go show them to my grandmas, set aside money specifically for property adjoining my parents land (the price of which will probably be lower later this year), buy a calculator that is allowable for the P.E. exam and learn to use it, Set aside 5 hours per week to study for the P.E. starting in mid-June, and stain my everloving deck. I'll work toward having an open house in May before all my mid-year resolutions (the land & licensure ones) take effect. Stop procrastinating is not, nor ever has been, one of my resolutions.
They asked people to share their memories of Ginger. I rolled something over in my mind that I thought needed to be said. After a long silence, Brett stood up and held back tears as she spoke to her mother's best qualities. Then she sat back down. Another long silence followed. The pastor asked if there was anyone else...another pause...then I stood and said what I remembered. All eyes were on me. Only seven sets of those eyes were familliar. The rest were strangers. I sat back down. My heart was in my throat; blood pounded in my ears. And then the pastor said:
"I didn't know that about her."
My heart stopped.
Had I been talking about the wrong person? At her funeral!!!!!
So, I couldn't stop the room from spinning for the remainder of the service. Afterward I asked, and it turned out that I was right and justified in standing up. Brett thanked me for "re-breaking the ice," because after I sat down, many family members stood up and took their turn sharing their memories.
That was the best part of the service. The rest seemed to focus on tired religious stories to try to comfort the family. I don't know that it accomplished that. There are some things you just can't explain at the time.
The rest of this post has nothing to do with the funeral. It's me explaining some things that I meant to post earlier. Then I'll tell my New Year's resolutions. It's all very skippable.
Why didn't I stand up when called into court?
I had no idea they were calling 4 names. When they got to the second part of Tangwystl's last name, I tuned out. I tuned back in at the word "Cock", and started looking around, and even asking, but no one knew for sure if I had been called.
Yeah, but why didn't i stand UP?
I honestly thought we were supposed to remain kneeling in court, so I kept bowing. It didn't help that I was a head taller than the other folks up there (and at least a full foot taller than Tangwystl). Like most of my attempts not to stick out, it backfired. Still, I must say I was flattered, honored, and elated to receive a polished mirror. The scroll was beautiful. Tangwystl (yes, the same one who was standing beside me) had painted "me" onto it in my red sideless surcoat with the fur trim and my completely-different-period hat.
Why was Ice Castles in Bland?
When Luther made the bid, it was for the Boy Scout Camp he had reserved at exit 105 on I81. After being awarded the bid (there were no others), he found out that the BSA camp cuts off their water in winter--no exceptions. So, he went to plan B: the school near where he lives was built as a combined elementary / HS with two gyms. They were fine with him reserving the whole thing. But he ran into the same derned problems I used to run into doing 4-H stuff at CCHS. School activities take precedence. Snow days meant rescheduling a basketball game on a Saturday, cutting short our time in the big gym. Custodians didn't show up with the keys to let us into locked rooms. The head of the cafeteria refused to let us use "their" room. (With 4-H stuff, the band director used to lock us out of "his" band room at CCHS.) There was also the usual lack of communication from the school about what was expected of the custodial staff and what we were expected to do for cleanup.
It sounded like overall, folks had a good time, but these are hiccups I will have to keep in mind if I ever autocrat Ice, which I would consider doing in either Radford or Abingdon. The Abingdon 4-H center is ideal, but I don't want to hear the "middle of nowhere" complaint.
Why bother with New Year's resolutions when January is already over?
Well, my priorities keep changing. I have goals, but it took me 'till now to come up with the resolutions that go with them.
The goals: Get my professional engineering license, stain my deck, plant my retirement trees, balance my commitments to friends and family, be a good friend/neighbor/daughter/girlfriend/4-Her/Scadian/engineer/coworker/etc., and be the best catmom I can be.
The resolutions: Over the course of the year I will sew something from each pattern I have, print out the pictures I take and go show them to my grandmas, set aside money specifically for property adjoining my parents land (the price of which will probably be lower later this year), buy a calculator that is allowable for the P.E. exam and learn to use it, Set aside 5 hours per week to study for the P.E. starting in mid-June, and stain my everloving deck. I'll work toward having an open house in May before all my mid-year resolutions (the land & licensure ones) take effect. Stop procrastinating is not, nor ever has been, one of my resolutions.