Undone

So, I'm back.

I did wind up speaking at the service; I adapted the eulogy I'd posted here, extracting about three paragraphs and revising them to stand alone. Quite a few other people spoke as well; my grandmom was one of those ladies of effortless elegance and grace who seems to touch everyone she meets. There was lots of weeping.

I wasn't entirely happy with the sermon that was delivered, but if you follow me on Twitter, you already know how I felt about that (this is why I keep my Twitter account private). If you missed it, feel free to email me and ask, but be prepared for a certain amount of ranting.

I was also pretty bemused by the couple who hung around at my uncle's house until after 10pm... They were neither family nor particularly close friends. Even my aunt, who is a brilliant hostess who loves entertaining, was trying to send "GO HOME NOW" signals to them, cleaning up and putting things away and fiddling with the lights, all of which they roundly ignored. I'm sure all of you are much smarter and more considerate than that, but just in case it needs to be said: If you're at a gathering with a strong family focus (funeral, wedding, christening, etc.) and you are not a member of the family, then you should not be the last one out the door unless you have specifically been asked to stay later. In which case you should be making yourself useful and not just sitting around talking. Oy.

Sleep was a bit of an issue -- miscommunication/lack of organization promised one bed to both me and my aunt's brother, and since I'm the younger generation, I'm the one who slept on the couch. We were up until well past midnight both Friday and Saturday nights, and I was up pretty early both Saturday and Sunday mornings. I threw back a lot of coffee, and I'm still feeling tired today.

There were a few other not-fun awkward moments, such as having to go through Grandmom's furniture and stuff in my uncle's garage and try to pick out what of it I want to keep. And later, trying to sort through Grandmom's jewelry and divide it up among us ladies. But I'm content; no one else wanted the desk that I've loved since I was about seven years old (though it will need to be repaired before I can use it), so though I got a few other things, I would have let someone else take them if they'd been wanted. I also got some nice jewelry (some of which I'm keeping in trust for Penny). And I brought home a whole bag of costume jewelry that no one wanted for Penny and Alex to play with.

I had a good time talking with John and Sam and my parents -- it's not often I get the chance to really talk with any of them much, anymore, especially without the kids around to interrupt every third word. And I got to see the pictures from my cousin's honeymoon, which were lovely.

But all in all, I was glad to get home Sunday afternoon, and I'm glad I won't be traveling for the rest of this year. I'm all burnt out on travel for a while.