Old Familiar Faces

I was up around 7:30am feeling surprisingly well for only getting about 5 hours of sleep. Again, Mindy was already up getting Jacob ready for school. By the time I began my exercises Jim was at the door to take Jacob to school. I left for my run around 8:45am. It was yet another absolutely gorgeous early spring morning. The expected high was 80 degrees! When I returned Glenn was up and Mindy was making breakfast – bacon and scrambled eggs. We enjoyed our breakfast and had a rather leisure time. But Mindy had some errands to run so our leisure time didn’t last. Mindy was headed back to the grocery for several things I had forgotten to get and that weren’t on the list. We were expecting a large gathering of family in between calling hours later this afternoon. Around noon time my mom unexpectedly showed up at the door with April – her adopted daughter of about 10 years. I was still going through house cleaning paces and Glenn I think was in the shower. We visited for a spell or until Mindy got home. After a couple minutes helping her carry everything in, I retreated to the shower. I emerged ready around 1pm and we left for the funeral home at 1:15pm. We arrived at 1:30pm after getting stopped at every possible light. Mindy was already there waiting for us, having driven separate vehicles and making most of the lights that I didn’t. As one might expect, the mood was rather somber, especially at first. We greeted as many folks as possible. Over the course of the next two hours or so several relatives, old family friends, and co-workers of Sheila’s arrived. My ex-mother-in-law even showed up. That was thoughtful, but I’ve come to expect that out of Rosemary. Despite our natural chasm, she’s a truly wonderful human being. Schoedinger’s did a pretty darn good job with Sheila. Given that she was so overcome by disease, I was very pleased - as were others. Around 3:30pm I ordered the pizzas just as I had been asked. They promised to have the 6 extra-large pies ready by 4:10pm, easily. Meanwhile, Mindy left to pick-up the kids at Grandma Sharon’s. Lindsey rode with Mindy, I think. The pies were ready when Glenn, Ashley and I arrived at Minelli’s. Everyone arrived fairly quickly at our home. Mindy had other hand to mouth foods available too, like mini-chocolate éclair’s and mini-cream puffs, along with a couple bowls of chips. The food went over well. Most folks flocked to the deck given the gorgeous afternoon weather. Time went fast. Soon it was time to head back to Schoedinger’s. This time the kids went with us. Glenn and I arrived around 6:15pm. There were several new visitors along with most of the visitors from earlier. We saw many of the Wright boy ex’s too. Tommy’s first wife, Cheryl, showed up as did Charles’ first, also named Cheryl. She didn’t dare come in, however, since the family doesn’t seem to want her around. She hung outdoors for a while. Geesh! Step-brother Shawn’s ex-wife, Cheryl, (kidding - her real name is Angie) stopped by, also. The calling hours ended somewhat fast. Soon everyone was leaving after paying their last respects. Glenn hung back and snapped a few pictures of the floral arrangements and of Sheila. We left about 8:10pm. We pulled into Kroger on our way home and purchased some Columbus Brewing Company beers – a six of their Pale Ale and the 90 Shilling Ale. At home we popped a couple of beers after I changed into my pajamas. Sometime just after Mindy went to bed Glenn and I watched Borat. It was funny, but I had an awfully hard time keeping my eyes opened. I slept through about half the movie drifting in and out. Finally about an hour and fifteen minutes into the flick I announced that I was retiring. It was only about 10:45pm.