Mom's Funeral

I called Judy just after eight about the gathering and she said Marie said to allow two hours to get to Tim’s.  Paul and I didn’t think it would be that long.  Paul said he would be here “as much before nine as possible” but added that “I’m not ready to go yet”.   Paul got here at nine as I was coming out of the bathroom.  I decided to just wear tennis shoes in jeans because we would be walking over a lot of rough ground.  We made mostly good time to Tim’s except for a two lane closure around Imperial highway.  I didn’t notice the county line sign either going or coming.  We made it to Tim’s by ten.  We had a lot of time.  Marie wasn’t ready to come out quite yet.  Tim gave me this wild fruit mixture with a strange name and there was a marked residu at the bottom of the glass.  It reminded me of cloves and I don’t know what else.  I also had some nuts.  Wendy arrived and she said whenever she thinks of the Johnston family she automatically thinks of nuts.  I guess so.  Paul left just after eleven while I was in the bathroom because he had all of that paperwork to attend to.   It turns out a doctor’s note wasn’t sufficient to get me out of gym class, or in this case, to convince the VA or whoever that I am “disabled and can’t ever work”.  They said Dr Saran’s note wasn’t very professional and they may want some additional back-up.  Then Tim’s lady financial agent came over with the food.  She was attractive and friendly.  I was looking at her car thinking it was Tim’s new car.   We left for the cemetery about twenty to twelve and I rode in Tim’s actual new silver car.  I didn’t like the small of it- - for being a new car.  I sat on the seat belt and had trouble unbuckeling. 

I wasn’t sure we had actually parked but Paul’s car was ahead of us.  Then I went and rode in Paul’s car who was otherwise alone without Judy.   There was a guy in a suit and some other guy and we got the official going.  But first we all held the box containing Mom’s ashes for one last time- - with a five pound weight in it.  Then the guy buried it and put dirt and grass over it.  Then Paul delivered the service- - - the Bible sermon or message for the day which seems like it took about twenty minutes.  Wendy said “Mom knew she would be at peace after she died” but neither me nor Paul were convinced Mom was even “saved”, as they say.  We met up with Dee and Gene about the time we parked.  Gene took a lot of pictures of us and the grave site.  Then we moved on to Bob and Bonnie’s grave.  It was a short car ride but then a long walk across rough and long grass and lumpy ground.  The guy said the name of the grass but I don’t remember.  Eventually we got to Bob and Bonnie’s grave and Gene took more pictures at the grave site.  We finished up about one and headed back to Tim’s.   The weather was merciful because there was a breeze blowing the whole time we were standing there.  It wasn’t close to the 98 I feared it would be.  We didn’t actually eat till about a quarter till two.  There were sandwiches and a salad with onions I put thick Italian dressing on.  I grabbed a sandwich at random and it was turkey and avocado.   To drink I had a cherry and lime mixture.  (?)  For the second sandwich I had an Italian cold cut sandwich.  There was also fresh bread segments.  Then Gene said he wanted coffee and I said to get me some too while he was up, which he did.  Gene looked different.  His hair was a lot grayer than I remembered.  Dee actually looked younger than the last time I saw her.  Gene said that his daughter Cheryl still lives in Bob’s old house in Dana Point but that she’s still suffering from Epstein Barr virus.  They made reference to Dee’s nine year old grandson, Samuel, who is half Black.  Devin is now a professor at William and Mary College back east.  By now it was approaching two thirty and Dee and Gene had to make that long trek back to Santa Barbra.  They thought it would take four hours with traffic. 

After this we talked some more and then Tim showed us around the yard.  He took out a lot of the lawn on the west side and it was just rocks.  We walked around this walkway.  Then we went down the street to the neighbor’s house where Tim says we had permission to go through his yard and walk down the path way steps to the river at the bottom of the canyon.  Yes this is a river that runs all year long.   I almost stumbled on some of the steps.  My balance isn’t what it was.  It was a nice, secluded spot at the bottom with some shade and there were crawdads and other critters in the water.   Tim pointed out some of the foliage around the place and then we headed back.   Wendy was talking about her poor luck with jobs.  The volunteer place works her to death and her paying day job finds any number of ways to cheat her out of what is rightfully hers.  It would seem that she has three big things going for her.  Wendy is from a really intelligent gene pool.  She had a good work ethic and she has forty years of experience.  But it seems employers don’t want to hire a new sixty year old woman when they can hire on a woman a third her age and probably pay her less than Wendy would be expecting.  Wendy said that Grandpa and Grandma got a color TV before her own parents did and she looked forward to seeing her favorite shows in color.  This statement puzzles me considering how rich they were.  Later on Tim and Wendy were talking politics and the Trump administration.  But we also discussed the fact that they don’t sell CD’s in stores any more or even have CD players in cars now and various ways to work around it.  Oh- - Paul had brought a lot of Dad’s black and white blow-up photographs and I don’t know if Dee and Gene took any.  There was a box of Mom’s jewelry and also Mom’s stamp collection which I’ve heard from multiple sources isn’t worth anything.  Wendy said something about a nature preserve in SW Los Angeles next to Gardena where she lives. 

It was about a quarter after four when we headed for our cars.  I took a sandwich and some nuts and a chocolate bar in a baggie.  The bar didn’t melt but it was getting soft by the time I got home.  Paul called Judy.  Me and Paul had another nice conversation on the way home.  We may go shopping for computers tomorrow.  Paul asked me if I had strong feelings about moving out of this place and I said that I didn't.  Would my new "fund" cover higher rent.  I kept remarking how urbanized that area around Van Buren has become.  Tim’s house is now like an island of ruralness, with the occasional rooster crowing.  I didn’t know Tim’s street ended at the next house down the hill.  Did it used to go further?   Thank heaven for air conditioning.  It seemed to get hotter as the afternoon progressed.  Once again we had congestion right around Imperial highway and almost nowhere else.  We got off at Brookhurst and went past our old Junior High School and then jogged over and went past Savanna High and then our old church and we turned at Ball, which was too soon.   When I got home I ate the ham and Swiss sandwich and the chocolate bar.  It was about a quarter to six.  Channel four had an ice hockey game and KABC had the Eastern Conference semi-final between the Toronto Rapters and the Cleveland Cavileers.  Cleveland just barely won that game by two points after eight.  They had just blown two free through and Toronto took advantage and scored.  The room was hot when I got home because I had left both the drapes and the window wide open because that’s the way Nora likes it when she arrives.  Consequently I spent a lot of time out back, smoking.

I opened up the new jar of instant coffee with the air pumped into it.  It was sure hot in the room.  Tonight the medication line was of no consequence.  Actually there was no line and it was earlier than the previous night.  About twenty after eight I switched to some CBS crime show and at nine it was an NCIS rerun, I guess.  I watched this till a quarter till ten.  Paul remarked on the way home that it might be the last time we see either Wendy or Dee and Gene. When he first said that I thought he meant “We won’t be seeing Mom after we die because she’s not going to make it to heaven”.   I was paranoid.  It does give one pause.  Judy called me up during this evening and wanted to know about the trip even though I guess she could have found out from Paul.    Her Parkinson’s is a source of a lot of pain and we must keep her in prayer.  She can’t sleep at night and won’t take opiates because she says they make her nauseous.