After much discussion with my family, I was able to get things caught up enough that I could go home. I left here at 2pm on Tuesday, and drove 5 hours to central Missouri. I stayed in a Fairfield Inn, and got up early Wednesday and drove the rest of the way to my parents' house in Indiana. I stopped there long enough to put on funeral attire, and we all drove to Illinois for the visitation. For three hours we sat at the funeral home and visited with people. I was very happy to see the huge turnout of family, friends and co-workers. The visitation was hard - I kept looking at my cousin, and either bursting into tears, or trying to hold back laughter. My cousin was THE funniest person I know. My sister and I sat in a pew at the funeral home, and we'd be crying, and then we'd look at each other, and one of us would say a funny quote from my cousin and we'd laugh. So, if you ever meet me in real life, all you have to do to get me to smile is say something like, "brown-out," "wire coat hangar," or "Foilfield."
We got back to the house at 10:30 that night, and I was beat. I had just enough energy to do my teeth (I have braces, so no skipping brushings!), and crawl into bed. My sister woke me up a few hours later to tell me that one of her employees had a heart attack and died that night.
I was back up at 6:00 on Thursday morning. We got 5 adults (me, mom, Dad, sister and brother) through the showers (thank goodness for a house with 3 bathrooms!) and left at 8:00 to head over to the funeral home.
We got to my aunt's house and met everyone. I picked up my cousin's little boy, and another cousin's little boy - they wanted to ride in my rental car (a 2007 Mustang - it was a V6, though, but little kids don't know the difference). We all went to the funeral home, for the service that started at 10:00. My brother gave a surprise eulogy - we had no idea he was going to speak. He got up to the podium, and broke down in tears. He wrote a poem while driving around in his truck, about how our cousin always told it like it was, and was the most real person around. At the end, he said, "I love you, Bubba, and I'll miss you." I cried the whole way through the service.
After the service, we all filed past my cousin one more time. I didn't handle it very well. I put a note in with him, and cried, and patted his shoulder. I can't believe he's gone - he was 43, and his life was FINALLY on the right track. I thought he'd be the last one of us standing. He did look very good, though - he looked to be smiling. His new wife is not handling this well at all - I hadn't met her yet, as they'd only been married a year, but I am praying for her so much.
After the funeral, we had dinner at the church, and then I headed back home. 9 hours later, my hubby and kids met me at the rental place to turn in the Stang, and I went home and collapsed. Now I am just catching up on some odds and ends, putting up a few articles, and planning to get back in the swing of things tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now - I'm tired so my thoughts are rambly.
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