Happy Birthday to Laura and Andy!
Neither one of them read this blog, but some of you know them, so I am doing my part. My hair is not done yet, only have mascara on the top lashes (don't ask), and am still in my jams but I thought I would get this in for those of you in the other time zones.
My friend Benny's mom died last week so I went to the funeral yesterday with Kathy and Tom. It was a very sad funeral but then the reception at the Legion and later at another son's home turned out to be pretty fun, the way funerals should be. Benny has a great family and I was glad to have been a part of it. I am feeling particularly crappy about having missed Kathy's dad's funeral just 3 weeks ago, and though she understands why I could not be there, it still doesn't make me feel any better. I just know that it is important to be there for your friends in times like these and in better times as well. I am lucky to have the good friends that I have, and those that have gone by the wayside, for whatever reasons they have chosen (real, imagined, or spawned from their own issues), well I only hope that they know how important friendship is one day.
As for family, well, it's interesting to me to see other families in motion. There are such differences in families of Mexican descent and those of ... what are we, American I guess. So many people came up and spoke at the service for Benny's mom, crying and sharing stories, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I know my family will not have the same dynamic. Doesn't mean we don't feel it, we just have never been the type to show it. I see a lot more of that in Mexican families (not that Mexican families are unique - I just have never spent a lot of time with other cultures). But it was nice. So while cleaning out my purse this morning, I pulled out the little memorial card that you get, with Mary Lou's picture on it, and I said (out loud, of course, because I'm a spinster living alone and just a couple of steps away from having 8 cats), You did a great job, Mary Lou, thank you.
For all the crap that is going on in the US about illegals and immigration and all that, we could really learn a lot from other cultures, if we would just take the time to look. Being Mexican doesn't mean you just like jalapeños on your food.
But to turn it up again, Happy Birthday to two NYers-turned-Cancunense ~ ! Hoping it's a great day for you both!
posted by JJ @ 6:07 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I haven't heard the "Legion" in a long time. My grandma was part of the Legion and it was a big part of her life. At her funeral, strangers came up to me and my mother and told us how much that Louis Kapralik meant to them. One guy was thoroughly depressed after he lost his wife. My grandmother would phone him every morning to make sure he would get out of bed and go about his day. She continued that after he got better and when he saw that she had passed in the paper, he had to come to the funeral tp pay his respects, say thank you, and meet her family. There were many more stories like that and its not that I didn't know my grandmother was an amazing woman...she survived the war, three husbands, and kept ticking after a stroke paralyzed the left side of her body.....I really knew it at the reception of her funeral.
Anyhoo. Thanks for the blog.
Well I am glad I helped bring her back for a little bit this morning. :)
Grandma comes around often! You know. I'm the bruja and can sense that shit.
Which reminds me.....card pulling time....
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