As I stated earlier, June was a busy little month, with only one day that we did not do something social. July started off much the same. Last week, in summary:
Monday: Mark died in the morning, which put an understandable pall on the day. I worked a half day, then went home and slept for over two hours. Jason and I went running about 4 miles, which was very helpful. Then, Mer’s folks and Aunt Mary came over and had dinner. We talked a lot, spent a large but ultimately successful time at guessing Carlene’s three television “boyfriends” (men she likes on TV – Shelby Foote, Father George, and someone else whose name I can’t remember). We then played American Authors, which is just like Go Fish, except you have to get all four cards together that have the same author on all four. Instead of saying “go fish,” Mer’s house rules have you say “go read.” I love my nerdy wife. I won fairly handily, with six sets of authors. I think the nearest other set was three. The game is largely luck at the start, but does come down to keeping straight who has what, which can be confusing with four other players when you are looking for ten or twelve cards.
Tuesday: Tuesday night, Mer and I headed down to Canton to go to a restaurant/vineyard we had never heard of, called Gervasi’s. It was magnificent (and also fairly new, which is why we had not heard of it). The grounds were very beautiful, with large trees, a small lake, and wide lawns. We sat outside on the patio, where casual food is served (pizza and burgers and such). It was a nice evening out, and the company was very good – Dale and Carlene, Aunt Mary, and the long-time family friend “Aunt” Zovie. In addition to the grounds, Gervasi’s had several very fancy sets of cornhole set up, and two real clay bocce courts. It was pretty amazing. The food was good, and the only downside for me was comfort – the iron patio chairs began to hurt my back after 45 minutes or so, and I (independently) began to get a migraine. So, Mer and I were the first to leave (after the table split a pint of excellent gelato).
Wednesday: Wednesday was the calling hours for Mark, which we went to. It was not as sad as I thought it would be. We knew many people there, there was a slide show of Mark in various stages of his life, and we got to talk with Kaity (Mark’s sister), who seemed to be doing okay. Mark’s parents also shared with us stories of how much Mark liked Fools and Ceili Club, as well as some other things from Mark’s life. It was comforting. It is too much to say it was a happy time, but it was not so sad as I had thought it would be because of the people who knew Mark. The entire experience reminded Mer of a graduation party (because we had been to so many), and it inspired her to write a very nice letter drawing parallels between a grad party and Mark’s experience – basically, that he had really graduated to a very real world.
Thursday: I took a half day off on Thursday so that I could go to Mark’s funeral. Sadly, Google maps steered us badly wrong, and we got to the church almost 30 minutes late. We did get there in time to hear Mark’s dad, grandmother, great-aunt, and sister all give tributes to Mark. Mark’s dad’s tribute was especially touching – it was very specific, and covered many phases of Mark’s life and how Mark kept being positive throughout his life. There were a ton of people there, and we knew most of them. We got to visit with a lot of students who had graduated over the last three years, which helped us a lot. We did not go to the graveside service, but stayed and continued to visit with people. On the way out, we got to help a young woman whose battery had conked out (we keep jumper cables in the trunk), so that was also helpful.
After the funeral, I got busy cooking. My friend Kevin Gaul was coming over to continue his education in “modern myths” – my category for fantastic stories that are presented as if they could be (but you are not sure if they are) real. That night, we were watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which was the first movie of the type I can remember ever seeing (I saw it back in high school or early college, back around 1990). Kevin came over, and we ate pizza and brownies and watched the film (which is still excellent). We then talked for about two hours, and found out more about Kevin’s plans to go to Japan in September (to help out a Christian group that produces and shows short films), and that he has a girlfriend (I am always interested in the love-lives of my younger friends). It was a good evening after a somber (but still good) morning.
Friday: I was going stir-crazy at work, so I left at 11:00 (after 4 hours – another half day off). I went home, and Mer and I walked the Kendall Lake Trail near our home. It is only a mile long or so, but it is pretty. We then headed home so we could get ready for our big social event – we were having people over to do a reading of King Lear, an idea that our friend Lesa had come up with about a month ago, and which we had decided to host. We had me and Mer, Dubbs, Dale, Carlene, Lesa and her husband Jay, and a friend of Mer’s and Dubbs’ going back years, Steve. We ordered pizza and Lesa brought some very good cold steak, and we ate and talked for about an hour or so. Then, we jumped into Lear, which took about three hours. Meredith assigned the parts. Dale was Lear, Carlene was the to-be-blinded Gloucester and other roles, Mer was the evil daughter Goneril, Dubbs was the evil daughter Regan, Lesa was the good daughter Cordelia and also played the Fool, Steve was the evil bastard Edmund, I was the good son of Gloucester Edgar, and Jay was the ultra-loyal-to-Lear Kent. It was a really great time. I think we did very well, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Yes, it was very nerdy, but we are all okay with that.