Farewell

I’ve always loved the word, not so much because it signifies someone is leaving but for the content.  I know it’s basically the same thing as “goodbye” but it always seemed more genuine and well meant. Yesterday we said our final farewell to that lady of iron, Miss Louise.  It was a dignified and appropriate funeral service where the priest did a perfect job of emphasizing the importance of faith and family to this great lady.  I took no photos because I didn’t want it to seem like a social event – we were there to honor Miss Louise.

This is one thing I’ve noticed about life as a civilian – a lot more funerals.  We certainly had our share of death in the military.  I know it may sound harsh but it was an accepted part of our way of life, even in training outside of conflicts.  There was death but there were very few actual funerals.  It is a profession for the young (relatively speaking) and even though there was the occasional bump in the night, the funerals were almost always carried out at the home town of the deceased. 

The lone exception to this was my assignment to the Old Guard in Washington, D.C.  When my company was in its “funeral cycle” we would handle upwards to 15 funerals a day in Arlington National Cemetery.  Again though, the deceased in every case was unknown to us.  Civilians get a lot closer and bear a tough burden of saying a lot more intimate farewells.

Some of You Must Remember

I almost joined Miss Louise yesterday when I blithely walked out the garage door to retrieve the morning paper.  The driveway was a solid sheet of ice and I was instantly performing some moves that would have made Nadia Comenici proud (sad that many won’t understand that reference – I am getting old).  I barely remained upright and as soon as I slid to the side of the ice I was checking the neighbors’ houses ensuring no one had been lucky enough to admire my gyrations.

The ceremony yesterday was followed by what will be known to history as “The Epic Ride of the Funeral Guest”.  I was able to shift an important meeting at work to 2pm in the afternoon once I found out I would be at the funeral in the morning.  I figured I could leave Rhode Island as late as 12:30 and still make the meeting, with a little (make that – a lot of) luck.  The flaw in my planning process was calculating times based on my normal nocturnal travels to and from Rhode Island.  I was now faced with mid-day traffic and Rhode Island drivers which seemed to taunt my illusions of arriving on time.

We did get out of the post funeral lunch right at 12:33 which constitutes a new record at getting my wife to depart a social event (usually a fifteen minute process in and of itself).  I now had to bring the wife home to Charlton and then turn around and get to my office, luckily the ice had melted.  Someone was watching over me because I hit every single light once I got near home and deposited the semi-pale spouse (my driving may have scared her, a little).  I left home at 1:31 for the usual 35 minute trip to Worcester.  I pulled into my office at 1:59pm, a little pale myself at the expended energy.  I charged over to my boss’ office to find the meeting was delayed until 2:45!  So it goes.

Date night resumed its normal schedule last night as the wife and I took in Homefront, the latest Jason Statham offering.  That is all the description you need to understand what kind of movie we’re talking about.  Statham is kicking Cajun redneck butt in this one with James Franco as a really un-scary meth gang leader.  We’re not delving into Shakespearean fare here but this was pretty entertaining as the action moves towards the inevitable show/smack down.    

The biggest surprises were two of the female supporting actresses.  Kate Bosworth completely shunned her good looks and looked to be method acting the part of a meth-head low life.  Winona Ryder was completely unrecognizable as Franco’s girlfriend/business partner.  I just hope they offered Bosworth rehab after filming because she seriously looked like she needed it; her best performance in years.