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Jack's funeral
Feb. 25th, 2019 02:00 amSo Jack is dead. His funeral was last Saturday and I went to support Uncle Jim and make sure Mom actually went. Barb & Mark and Patti came with us and the 5 of us sat in the back even though Betty told Jim that Mom should come sit in front with the family. We gave Betty our condolences but Mom told her she appreciated the offer but that she'd rather sit with her "real" family.
It was truly one of the most awkward days a person could have. It was like wandering in to a stranger's funeral. Uncle Jim did the eulogy and did a very nice job. There was a LOT of religion for someone who was not religious but I'm guessing that's what Betty wanted. They opened up the floor for people to share memories and a couple different people got up to talk about "grandpa" and share stories. It was surreal. Patti and I were talking afterward about how glad we were that we talked mom into it, apparently Patti didn't know her bio mom at all but went to her funeral. She said she learned about some similarities they had and that she appreciated the closure and that Jack was the one who lost out on the deal because he didn't get to know me.
What was nice was they had folks from the Navy come and do a flag ceremony AND people from the state patrol come and do a flag/badge presentation. That got me misty wishing we had done something like that for Crappa, which is funny because Jack's funeral was 7 years to the day since Crappa died. I can't believe it's been seven years. Aunt Barb was saying how glad she was they DIDN'T do that for him right as I was saying I wished we had. Mom pointed out that HE was my grandpa and I missed being able to have a tribute for him like they had for Jack and Barb got it. Someone at the reception asked Mark & I how we knew Jack (LOL) and I said "He was my grandfather" and the guy was like "oh...er...yeah...I remember when that happened" and Mark said "that's OK, my dad was her real grandfather because he was up for the challenge" :) Then we walked by all the tribute board/photos/poster things and went "woooow, look at all the pictures of us! They really should have made room for the rest of these folks" because we are snarky bastards and thank God we are.
Betty's kids came out to tell us how nice it as we came and how glad they were to see us and blah blah blah and I just smiled and nodded, then we beat feet to go get some lunch.
I wore one of Grandma's (my mom's mom, my actual grandma) rings, told mom I thought she should be represented. We both smiled at the thought that she was there giving dead Jack the finger.
It was truly one of the most awkward days a person could have. It was like wandering in to a stranger's funeral. Uncle Jim did the eulogy and did a very nice job. There was a LOT of religion for someone who was not religious but I'm guessing that's what Betty wanted. They opened up the floor for people to share memories and a couple different people got up to talk about "grandpa" and share stories. It was surreal. Patti and I were talking afterward about how glad we were that we talked mom into it, apparently Patti didn't know her bio mom at all but went to her funeral. She said she learned about some similarities they had and that she appreciated the closure and that Jack was the one who lost out on the deal because he didn't get to know me.
What was nice was they had folks from the Navy come and do a flag ceremony AND people from the state patrol come and do a flag/badge presentation. That got me misty wishing we had done something like that for Crappa, which is funny because Jack's funeral was 7 years to the day since Crappa died. I can't believe it's been seven years. Aunt Barb was saying how glad she was they DIDN'T do that for him right as I was saying I wished we had. Mom pointed out that HE was my grandpa and I missed being able to have a tribute for him like they had for Jack and Barb got it. Someone at the reception asked Mark & I how we knew Jack (LOL) and I said "He was my grandfather" and the guy was like "oh...er...yeah...I remember when that happened" and Mark said "that's OK, my dad was her real grandfather because he was up for the challenge" :) Then we walked by all the tribute board/photos/poster things and went "woooow, look at all the pictures of us! They really should have made room for the rest of these folks" because we are snarky bastards and thank God we are.
Betty's kids came out to tell us how nice it as we came and how glad they were to see us and blah blah blah and I just smiled and nodded, then we beat feet to go get some lunch.
I wore one of Grandma's (my mom's mom, my actual grandma) rings, told mom I thought she should be represented. We both smiled at the thought that she was there giving dead Jack the finger.
