Calling hours

I started the morning with a bike ride. Work was closed today, so I took advantage of a quiet park and rode the lake like I like to. I didn't have anything else to do really. My wife was at the office doing taxes, and the kids were all at school.

That hasn't happened in a very long time.

I haven't seen my aunt Rose in at least ten years, probably more. I have a pair of cousins I haven't seen in at least three, maybe four years. Another that I haven't seen since he was 12, and now he's 21. The last time I stepped into that funeral home was for my Omi's funeral, back in 2002.

He outlived her by a good stretch, completely defying the norm.

I saw a handful of former coworkers that had left the company years ago. There were a lot of pictures on display, most of which I'd already seen throughout my life (I was even in a few of them), but my mother and her siblings managed to dig pretty deep and pull out quite a handful of photos that even I hadn't seen before. Granted, I could tell you where each one was taken and roughly when, but the novelty wasn't lost on me.

Open casket. He didn't look anything at all like himself. I wonder why they do that. Every time I see an open casket at a funeral, what's left doesn't look like the one that departed. Honestly it would have hit me a lot harder if it did.

It was cloudy and a little rainy. My wife took the kids home partway through the calling hours. There wasn't a funeral proper - they're saving that for the graveside service. Wasn't today. I might have been stuck walking home in the rain (in my suit), but my sister offered me a ride. I can appreciate the poetry in the moment, but at my age I'd rather not catch a chill. 

Or ruin my suit. Yikes, my Opa would have teased me for that.

April ghouls day

The whole day went by and nobody really did anything 'pranky'. I remember for awhile every single website would do something until it got a little over the top and they all calmed down a bit. Out here in the meaty real life world the occasional bit of foolishness manifested, but today was just... lame.

Looks like it's on me next year.

Birthday bo... man?

Yesterday was my oldest sons 17th birthday. Ignoring the fact that I'm old enough to have a 17 year old - he wanted to go bowling. We booked a lane for him and his friends, and slowly throughout last week they all bailed on him. So we went as a family.

I can't remember how long it's been since I went bowling, but let me tell you the fact that the radial head fracture in my right elbow, which I was told was so small that any attempt to fix would result in more damage, absolutely made itself known about halfway through the night.

I still got the high score, but that's not the point. 

Good bye Opa

My grandfather died this morning.

Odd off days and the driving boy

A random Wednesday off school? That makes little sense.

Don't do that. Unless you're looking at a date specific holiday that requires celebration on the day of, then any other day off can easily be shuffled to the nearest Friday or Monday.

I mean, nobody's going to try to move Christmas. 

My oldest is taking his five hour driving course this week. It's at the high school, so he only needs to stay and call for a pickup. I plan to play some horribly embarrassing song really loud with the windows down. Either Barbie Girl or Caramelldansen. We'll see how that goes.

Hot and cold and hot and...

It's not rare to have an unseasonably warm day somewhere in winter, but this is getting weird. I get the mail at work, and one day I'm in short sleeves soaking in the sun. The next day I have a hoodie on. The next day I need my coat and gloves just to get that far. 

That's happened three times in the past month.

Doesn't matter what you wear - you're wrong. 

Wrestling's over

You read that title correctly - today was the last day. It was a match in Oswego. It was a pretty short run, only two months long, but I watched as his skill improved dramatically.

Every single one of those seventh graders would benefit from some weight training, but I'm not going to go on about that.

He wants to do it again, but at his grade level that means next January. I'll see if I can get him some weights.