Funeral in Shreveport

Tuesday morning Sherri and I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof. Yes it was raining…not hard…but a steady patter of rain that was telling me to stay in bed and close my eyes…it was trying to lull me back to dream land.

We had to get ready to go on a unpleasant journey…one that Sherri and I have had to face so much in our life here lately. We had to go to a funeral here in Shreveport. One of Sherri’s cousins died last weekend and her funeral was today. Seems like the older you get the more funerals you have to attend of family and friends.

This is why Sherri had to buy our little house guest a new set of clothes for today. He did not have dress up clothes with him so we had to outfit him in some new duds. Actually for that matter I did not have too many dress clothes. We always said that we needed to keep some nice dress up clothes in the RV for those occasions that you would have to dress up. Luckily I had enough good things to wear without having to go shopping myself.

The funeral was at 11:30 and we would be driving over there with Sherri’s brother Danny. He came by and took me and Kris out to eat breakfast while Sherri was getting ready to go. We ate at Cracker Barrel and enjoyed a good breakfast. Kris conducted himself in a good grown up manner and I was real proud of him.

We arrived at the funeral…and as all funerals go it was sad and somber. Well for the grown ups…Kris on the other hand found the kneeling bench behind the pews and began to lift it up and down at an alarming rate. I tried to prop my foot up against it to keep him from doing that but to no avail. Then at one point when I turned around to say HI to a couple of friends setting behind us Kris took off. Yes up the aisle to the back of the chapel. I bolted for the aisle and tried to  grab him once and fell forward nearly falling to the floor. The folks on the far side of the building could not see Kris ahead of me running… all they could see was a fat old man stumbling down the aisle grabbing at something. The OOOs went out and I had to run faster. I caught him right before he headed out the door.

OK that was the end of the service for me. Sorry Joy I love you and will miss you but I had to restrain my grandson before he reeked havoc at your funeral. He and I circled the building outside until I started getting light headed from the heat. I talked him into going inside for a while…big mistake…and we went to the family room and sat down.

My eyes soon cleared and I notice Kris had disappeared! My gosh where on earth could he have gone. I left the room and looked up and down the hallway…no Kris…I did notice a door that was open near the end of the hallway. That was the door to a viewing room! OH MY GOD! Yes the worst fear I could dream up was now a reality. Kris was in another viewing room with a poor soul we did not know. I quickly went and grabbed him and we said our good-byes to whoever. Who is that Poppa? Why is him laying in that box? OK that is a question that I will have to answer at a later date.

Still have not figured out why the boy and I went to the funeral…being that we either one attended the service. I think it made his Maw Maw happy and that is what counts.

The graveside was not much better. It was a rainy day and then the sun broke out and the humidity went through the roof. We had brought some umbrellas incase it started raining. Kris had to hold one and soon he was running through the crowds…umbrella hitting folks about knee level. People jumped around trying to miss the little guy. This was a very unique service…one like no other I had attended in some time.

We did make it back to the RV later that afternoon. It was good to be home and have Kris where he could do no harm to the living or the dead. God I love that little guy but he is no fun at funerals!

The rest of the evening was spent on the computer visiting on chat and reading journals. Sherri Bejeweled and Kris played on the floor with his trucks. Tomorrow we head out of here to our lake lot and no Internet. I hope I will be able to communicate with you…

Somewhere in Time.