A Time for Every Purpose Under Bloggin'

It is 18:43 on Saturday night and my mom has been laid to rest and is on her way to wherever we go when we complete the tasks that we were put here to do. It had been a very emotional week or so. She had been suffering many obstacles off-and-on for most of her life. No matter where she is I will forever see her in flowers and rainbows and kittens and smiling children and a light Spring rain. Sons and their mothers have a special bond I have always felt. She will still be with us even though she is no longer a carbon-based life form. I am not completely sure how I am supposed to feel so I can feel however I choose to feel I suppose. I guess that is a bit hokey but, even though I have been around death off-and-on for as long as I remember, this is the closest to my heart so far. I imagine parents are supposed to die before their children die so, if that is the case, I will just accept that this is part of the ride. Just hang-on tight and enjoy the ride before it ends.

It was nice seeing family members that I have not seen for a long time. I hope that we will all stay close to one another on a more frequent basis. We all talked about getting together at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford when the weather turns nicer. As kids we spent a lot of time there fishing and canoeing and cooking-out and playing ball. I am not much of a fisherman anymore. I never really cared for it at all but my dad loved to fish so I tried it. I always felt bad for the bait (worms, minnows...) as well as the fish. I am really going to stay in touch with people and make this happen.

I have a photo of my mom and my Uncle Rick (her brother) on my Facebook page of her in her Rockford Peaches' uniform and he in his Chicago Cubs' uniform when they were younger. Mom's death announcement that we put in the Rockford Register Star newspaper (because my mom and dad were originally from Rockford) included a photo of her in her uniform. In the announcement we included the fact that she had been a bat girl for The Peaches back in the day (1951). A man from the Friends of Beyer Stadium (Home of the Rockford Peaches) came to the visitation and told me about a whole big event they are having in Rockford from May 30th to June 3rd for the Rockford Peaches' 75th anniversary. I did not know that they even still played. I am going to make it to some of the events - I may have to use some more vacation days? He also talked about a walk of fame where people associated with the Peaches would be honored. I am not quite sure, at this point, whether it is something that we would pay for or donations (including ours) would pay for? It would be a really cool tribute to my mother and I am certainly going to look into it. Maybe we could start one of those GoFundMe campaigns? I keep creating more work for myself. I just checked on that and people even have GoFundMe accounts for funeral expenses. That makes me sad.

Jill and I have decided that we are going to make all of our death requests (all of the funeral arrangements) known, in writing, so our children don't have to make all of the decisions about our wishes after we are gone. Nobody would be able to second-guess or question any of the decisions. If someone thought something was wrong all the kids would have to say is, "those were their wishes." That is probably one of the biggest lessons I learned over this ordeal. It is difficult enough to lose a loved-one and then to get pressured into getting a better coffin and a fancier headstone or whatever. I want my heirs... to have the benefit of whatever I have left; I do not want it to go to a fancy casket that I will never even need. Put me in a refrigerator box for all I care. I have often thought about cremation and scattering my ashes at Busch Stadium or back in Heidelberg, Germany. Maybe roll me up in some rolling papers and smoke me. What in the hell do I care. I just want them to have less to worry about. I am going to quit writing for tonight and pick-up again in the morning (hopefully). Sleep tight.

Do these ashes make me look fat?

It is Sunday morning and I am feeling blue. I did not sleep very well for no particular reason. I suppose it was what has happened over the past few weeks but I think it may also be because I am watching the news right now. It may also have something to do with the person who lacks character who lies who cheats who bullies... representing us in the world. I usually try to avoid discussing politics but I now feel that I have a responsibility to my children and the people without voices and the future of our planet to diplomatically and sensibly deal with this topic if it comes up. I will try very hard not to be confrontational as this is, most often, counter productive. If, however, the topic comes up I will no longer be silent. That will be difficult around my father but I will remain steadfast in my resolve.

I am not sure if I will watch any of the Olympics. I do like the hockey. Do NHL players still get to participate in the games if they wish? I see both sides of that argument: other countries have always used professionalish athletes but we could not for a long time. Do I want to see Canada play the U S and A playing for the gold medals every four years?

Bobsled is pretty fun ever since the movie Cool Runnings. Curling is interesting for some reason. Alright, I may watch some of the Winter Olympics now that I blog about it.

These two-day blogs tend to get a little lengthy, don't they? Is "a little lengthy" an oxymoron? Ha, that makes me think that John Candy was in the movie Cool Runnings and, in the movies Stripes. John Candy's name was Dewey Oxenburger and they called him Ox and in oxymoron. Now I am missing John Candy too.

I am going to end now and maybe blog again tomorrow. I feel that I have been gone from work so long that it is going to be weird going back on Wednesday.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you, also, for all of the nice Facebook messages after my mom's passing' they were very appreciated. Oh yeah, if I have been playing Words With Friends with you do not be offended that I deleted the APP. I may return one day but I am gone for now. TTTT...MITM (out)!