NJ Funeral

[fbhjr]

So, I got up at 3, was on the road by 3:30.
Mapquest said 4:45 to get there, but I did it in 4. I was surprised given that it involved driving through NYC. But, before 6AM it isn’t too bad.
The problem was keeping awake. As any of you on long drives with me know, I like to talk with people to keep awake. The good news was that I was able to call Holly when I got droopy and she talked with me for a bit until I perked up some. (The 5:30 call I just babbled at her voice mail, but it still helped.)
The service for Jess’s dad was very nice. Each of his son’s spoke and the pastor doing the service had people in the audience give one word each that reminded them of his dad. I had never seen that in a service before, and thought it very nice.
Getting to the cemetery was another drive. It was more than an hour down lots of NJ country roads and such. But, I did find it eventually. I was afraid I was late as I couldn’t find the rest of the group (I had gone off for gas so wasn’t actually following). But, it turned out I was just early. They showed up eventually and did a smaller service there.
It was a veteran cemetery and had the military people doing the flag folding. There’s always been something about that I’ve found very moving. Not sure why.
I didn’t go back to the house due to the drive home. The drive home too more time due to the traffic, but still wasn’t too bad.
I did meet Holly for dinner, with mixed results. There are, as I’ve known to be true, a lot to work out. Hopefully we’ll be able to. We’ll see.

Comments

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you were able to chat, as well as keep you awake.

Remember your dissertation of Star Wars Ep. 1 and 2 compared to 4-6 on our way back up from NJ one year? That was fun! Too bad I conked out when you *really* needed it 4 hours later. :P

I can understand how you see the Flag-Folding to be moving. I do too. When we had my mother's father's funeral back in June at the national vet cemetery in Bourne, they had 2 Navy sailors as Honorguard and did the flag-folding, and as much as my grandfather wanted "full" honors - a Fly-over - but he was too low [rank] to have it - wouldnchya know a pair of F-15's from Otis just happened to be flying out on maneuvers. It was something.
I hardly remember my dad's father's funeral, but he also had a flag-folding, my dad made a flag-box for it. I always looked at it fondly.