the funeral events i mentioned last post are over. saturday, we were on a plane at 6:30am headed for st. louis by way of cincinnati, where we rented cars and took off toward marion, il. i managed to get a good pic of the arch in st. louis while crouched in the back seat of a moving car.
impressive, ne? and i only cropped it a little to center the arch better...
anyway, once in marion, we had some lunch, checked into our hotel, and went for a drive around the area. spott's mom showed us where some of her family lived in carterville, and where some of her ancestors are buried. the cemetary there is old, and actually rather lovely.
sometime that night, sleep happened. as sleep goes, it was a quickie - not nearly long or hard enough, and certainly not satisfying. by the time the hotel's breakfast was being served (think 6am), i had had time to watch most of a movie, shower including shaving, dress, and get bored. so i woke up spotty, and we went to get some food...
fast forward to 5pm, we were at the funeral home for calling hours, where i met more of the relatives spott didn't know than she did. we got to hang out with some family we did know, and after a while, we left in search of a clothing store. spott had packed herself and neglected to bring appropriate clothes for an actual funeral...
monday morning was the funeral. the service was good - sad, of course, because spott's grandpa was just awesome, but not "doom and gloom" like so many funerals i've been to. this is a bunch of people who don't regret death, just that they have to miss their loved ones that pass before them. most of the stories told were happy ones.
he was honored with a 21 gun salute for his service in italy during WWII. the family kept the brass. i'm going to see if i can make a pendant for spotty out of hers.
the party after the funeral was actually a whole bunch of fun. i told someone before we left that spotty's family always manages to make any occasion a party, and i was right. there was a ton of good food, there were a ton of smiling faces, and there was plenty of laughter. one of the cousins, jonathan, turned out to not only be adorable and sweet, but to be an amazing pianist and singer. the dog, scooby, nearly topped jonathan's performance with his howling rendition of "take me out to the ball game". it was a good time.
from there, we headed back to mo, and found our hotel in earth city, where we stayed the night, had some food and drinks in the hotel restaurant, and i actually got to talk more to one of spott's cousins than i had before. it was fun.
then this morning, the car i was in got lost on the way to drop off the rental cars, before getting to the airport. honestly, i didn't feel lost - considering i could see the airport and knew where the rental place was in relation to it, the whole time we were "lost" - but spott's mom was driving and she has understandably been on her last nerve for days. even then, it wasn't as big of a drama as it could have been, and i took out my "get things done" voice (which is softer than you'd imagine, really...), and directed us back to the right path. it worked out in the end, and we got to the airport with plenty of time
the flights were uneventful, everyone got back ok, and we've been home for nearly 2 hours now. it feels weird to not be moving. and i really have to get a nap before work - i have to go in for 4 hours tonight starting at midnight.
so, yes, sleeping. that's where i'm going.
♥
impressive, ne? and i only cropped it a little to center the arch better...
anyway, once in marion, we had some lunch, checked into our hotel, and went for a drive around the area. spott's mom showed us where some of her family lived in carterville, and where some of her ancestors are buried. the cemetary there is old, and actually rather lovely.
sometime that night, sleep happened. as sleep goes, it was a quickie - not nearly long or hard enough, and certainly not satisfying. by the time the hotel's breakfast was being served (think 6am), i had had time to watch most of a movie, shower including shaving, dress, and get bored. so i woke up spotty, and we went to get some food...
fast forward to 5pm, we were at the funeral home for calling hours, where i met more of the relatives spott didn't know than she did. we got to hang out with some family we did know, and after a while, we left in search of a clothing store. spott had packed herself and neglected to bring appropriate clothes for an actual funeral...
monday morning was the funeral. the service was good - sad, of course, because spott's grandpa was just awesome, but not "doom and gloom" like so many funerals i've been to. this is a bunch of people who don't regret death, just that they have to miss their loved ones that pass before them. most of the stories told were happy ones.
he was honored with a 21 gun salute for his service in italy during WWII. the family kept the brass. i'm going to see if i can make a pendant for spotty out of hers.
the party after the funeral was actually a whole bunch of fun. i told someone before we left that spotty's family always manages to make any occasion a party, and i was right. there was a ton of good food, there were a ton of smiling faces, and there was plenty of laughter. one of the cousins, jonathan, turned out to not only be adorable and sweet, but to be an amazing pianist and singer. the dog, scooby, nearly topped jonathan's performance with his howling rendition of "take me out to the ball game". it was a good time.
from there, we headed back to mo, and found our hotel in earth city, where we stayed the night, had some food and drinks in the hotel restaurant, and i actually got to talk more to one of spott's cousins than i had before. it was fun.
then this morning, the car i was in got lost on the way to drop off the rental cars, before getting to the airport. honestly, i didn't feel lost - considering i could see the airport and knew where the rental place was in relation to it, the whole time we were "lost" - but spott's mom was driving and she has understandably been on her last nerve for days. even then, it wasn't as big of a drama as it could have been, and i took out my "get things done" voice (which is softer than you'd imagine, really...), and directed us back to the right path. it worked out in the end, and we got to the airport with plenty of time
the flights were uneventful, everyone got back ok, and we've been home for nearly 2 hours now. it feels weird to not be moving. and i really have to get a nap before work - i have to go in for 4 hours tonight starting at midnight.
so, yes, sleeping. that's where i'm going.
♥
I drove past the Arches on the way to Oklahoma once...I really wanted to stop and check out the scene but time didn't allow for it. Glad to hear the entire event wasn't gloom and doom...that is tougher than ever when it turns out like that...