This past weekend, my MIL and I spent in Pittsburgh. We went to the convention that Patrick went to for many years, volunteering as an EMT. This was his "thang". He loved it and loved many of the people there. One of the many reasons he had 8 million friends.
Anyway, they were having a memorial service for Patrick and wanted family to be there. I went in my FIL's place for many reasons, but the most important being this is really fucking hard for him.
Good gravy, let me start by saying how pretty Pittsburgh is when you approach the city from the airport. You pop out of a tunnel through a mountain and suddenly downtown is in front of you. We had a good time catching up with many of his friends that we knew and met many more that had been unable to attend the funeral.
It was amazing to hear from so many people and the impact Patty had on their lives, a few he had even saved.
The memorial was very nice and moving. There was a flag ceremony with bagpipes (always a sucker for men in uniform). It was so hard for his friends, for this final goodbye.
What killed me was the final call for him on the radio. I guess it's tradition for those that are EMT's, Fire, Police, etc. But holy shit, I cried. I was not expecting it and it was just so....final.
Which has left me in a funk. Today was the arraignment of the man that killed Pat. His lawyer called for an independent analysis of the blood alcohol, delaying it even longer. I would hope it would just end. Finish it. But, of course, his lawyer must search every nook and crany to find a way to get him less time. *sigh*
I'm tired of thinking about it, tired of crying. Tired of my anger. I want to be done missing Pat and to have him home. Tired of my 4 year old son telling me he misses his uncle and asking why he had to die. Irrational? Of course, but a girl can dream.
Alas, we are going camping this weekend. First *big* camping trip with the kids. We'll be gone for a week. Which is exciting and scary at all once. The FIL is going to try to fix the furnace on the camper this week before we go in the event it too cold in the night once we're up there. I need to take inventory of what's in the camper for gear and see what I need to hunt down. I thought everything was in there, but I couln't find the pie irons/s'more sticks on our last trip (though, I didn't check under one of the couches).
All in all, it's pretty exciting. The kids are excited to go. I'm slightly bummed because cherries will be ready for picking this weekend, so I probably will not get to make cherry preserves/pie filling this year. That is a complete bummer!
Going to see a bunch of friends tonight, I'm excited. Hoping to find someone to watch the kids so John can come as well since this was originally scheduled for Friday (which I had covered!).
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