Tuesday's Calling Hours//Memories

Calling hours for Todd's Dad were yesterday...2-4pm and 6-8pm. My mom watched the kids from 2-4ish and7:15-8:30ish so I could be there as much as possible. It worked out pretty well as Adam slept through the first chunk and mom got to bond with Abbey...who took a bottle from her for about an ounce until I walked through the door! Then when she came back I had Abbey sleeping...so she got to play with Adam. The evening calling hours were pretty crowded as I figured they might once people were out of work.

When I got there a little after two...I started to walk through the door into the parlor and stopped. I could see him from there and I could feel myself getting upset. Todd came over to me and said you want to take a flower tour? He took me and our niece through "a flower tour" getting us close to Charlie, but with a distraction. It helped. The best flowers? The ones shaped into a garbage truck from his kids...designed by my husband of course. There was a bit of controversy in the family for some reason. There was the opinion that they were tacky. And the opinion that they weren't green enough to look like a Butler truck. Seriously? I can never get my mind around such petty focus. One of the reasons I only did so-so in the world of higher education...I hate focusing on petty details. It was a wonderful sentiment and it was cute, too! Plenty of people did like them.

Veterans (Charlie was a proud WWII veteran of the Marine Corps...having served in both the American Legion and VFW in various posts) and garbage compatriots alike paid their respects as well as many extended family. Like every family, it's always interesting to see the weirdest offshoots of the family tree!! A guy Todd knows who owns another garbage company was there...and we learned his wife had just walked out on him. I felt bad for him, especially since at first I though he was joking.

Hundreds of people stopped in to pay their respects to a man who had a knack for making you feel like you count. As things wound down, I got a little upset. I wanted to say something, but reminded myself I had done that when he was still with us, the afternoon before he passed. Todd's crazy Aunt Harriett came over and started talking to me, making me tearier. But as hard as it was to see him there, that wasn't what made me sad. It was hearing his voice in my head and thinking about him making Kathy stop at the hospital when I went in for my induction/c-section because he was worried about me that made me sad. I guess more accurately sentimental. I knew I'd miss him...and his dry toast at breakfast and how if he didn't want all his food he just started offering it to everyone until someone would take that half of sausage patty. And how when he was ready to leave somewhere he was up and gone before you could say a word! You'd think with an oxygen tank, he'd be slow...but nope, he'd be out of there!