Rest in Peace

The services are over, and we are back home. I was really dreading the thought of going. FIL was not dealing well with things, and BIL2 and BIL4 were very stressed. They even ended up with food poisoning, along with everything else they were dealing with.

We drove down on Thursday and spent most of the day at FIL and MIL's. Surprisingly, FIL was in a relatively good mood. It was great to see BIL1 again (haven't seen him in 4 years or so, since the In-Law's 50th anniversary party). He is dealing with cancerous polyps in his bladder and has to have them removed in January. After the diagnosis,he has quit smoking after 35 years.

It started raining Thursday night (for the first time in about 16 months). Continued to rain all day Friday, until after we got home last night. We decided it was Joe, playing one last joke on us all ... making us stand out in the rain during the interment.

BIL6's family didn't make it out to the service. His MIL was driving out from Long Beach with the kids and BIL2's daughter and were involved in an accident on the freeway. Fortunately, nobody was injured, but the car was totaled. P went out to pick them up and bring them out to Joshua Tree, but her mom decided to go home, and S's daughter also went back home. By the time P got things taken care of and back out to Joshua Tree, she was exhausted and decided to just go back to the motel.

The Church service was really nice. Each of the brothers got up and spoke. Joe's 13-year-old stepdaughter got up and spoke, and read a poem that she had written.BIL3 put together a really nice slideshow of Joe's life. He was able to find pictures from when Joe was just a baby (he even had a copy of the birth announcement that was sent out! My FIL had some hard times during the service, but not as bad as we expected. The "Church Ladies" provided a really nice lunch (sandwiches, pizza, lots of yummy desserts) and then the family went to the cemetery for the interment. The Pastor came too, and said a few words. A lot of us waited until the burial was completed (I didn't want to, but F did).

It was so good to spend time with the family. We don't do it nearly enough. Joe's stepchildren all accepted us as though we had been family forever, and we made sure (I hope) that they knew that, even though Joe is gone, they are still family.

Joe will be missed.