The Funeral

In April of 1972 (when I was 6) a young family moved into the two-story Cape Cod (which was an exact duplicate in layout to our house) next door to us.  We quickly discovered that this family included two girls who were the exact same age of my sister and me.  

That was the beginning of our deep- rooted relationship with the Stelter family.  They had 5 children in their family...Debbie was the oldest, Carol was my sister's age and friend, Patty was my age and friend, and then, lastly,were the two boys, Tom and Paul.  Who at 3 and 4 were, of course, annoying, bothersome little imps!  

They lived 7 years next door to us before defecting to Florida in favor of milder winters.  But distance did nothing to sever our bonds.  We spent alternating summers visiting each other and after less than a minute together felt as if we had never been separated.  

I could babble forever reliving one memory after another but today was all about remembering Tom.

  
Kind, generous, comical, intelligent, ambitious, and gregarious.  

He was a great son, brother, uncle, nephew, and friend and was loved by many.  

He was a lover of the outdoors and spent much time rock climbing, hiking, and skiing.  

He was a proud backer of the Packers and of Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in engineering.  

He was entertaining to be around, witty, and could be quite wacky and goofy.

His smile was contagious.  

The funeral was in Ormond Beach so Zack and I drove up to my parent's house yesterday and stayed overnight. 

Ormond Beach...Granada Blvd.

The service was a Catholic mass

Those Catholics and their statues 

And afterward was a nice luncheon with an unbelievable spread of food.  

What a great picture.  

Unfortunately, the inurnment was rained out.  

I drove back to my parent's house on A1A taking in some wonderful views of the ocean and pondering how infinitesimal we are here on earth and yet God holds each one of us in His hands.

Rows of colorful Oceanside condos

And then, I passed a funeral home that was holding a funeral for an obvious confederate redneck because there were trucks and Confederate Flags as far as my eye could see. 

Can't see the Confederate Flag but it's there...behind the American flag.  

We were going to stay over again tonight but I forgot my phone charger and Ollie's food.  And my mom was in quite a mood today!  

So we headed home about 6:45 and poor Ollie scarfed down two bowls of dog food within fifteen minutes of being home.