Another weird day

Somebody up there has an odd sense of humor.

This morning I got up early and started on the photo project. All I really wanted to do was print out the stuff I was going to put in Jim's send-off packet. Dede helped me learn to use the scanner. We got it all done. The contents of his envelop are: photos of our family, our wedding, a letter from Paige, a picture of Dan and Ginger #1 (she was their a yellow lab), a picture of Sally (good doggie), a picture of the waterfalls at Milsap Bar, Keith Emerson photo, a Christmas card I silkscreened, some Mutts comic strips, some confetti from a They Might Be Giants concert, Troika sheet music, locks of hair (Gracie, Bozzy, me) and a Naked Trucker and T-Bones paint stick. I talked to Mary tonight and she said I should have included a photo of Terri Garr. Dang! That would have been great! I told her we should build a fire and send him some more stuff.

After we finished with the scanning and printing it was time to get ready to go to the mortuary. Dean went with me but she didn't feel comfortable going into the room to make the ID. No problem. The clueless receptionist showed me to Jim's slumber room. He was on a gurney, covered from the shoulders down, with a sheet and a blue blanket. When I had last seen him he looked like Jim. Today he looked like a dead body. I know this is an understatement, but it's painful to see someone you love so much looking like a stiff. I knew making the ID would be hard but I was thinking it was going to be a heartbreak kind of hard. This was more of a chilled to the spine kind of hard. I filled out the form and signed it then went back into his room and put the envelope under the blanket. On the way out I told Dean I wanted to get home and drink a big bottle of wine.

When we got home we sat on the porch for a while. Lindsay came out and asked us to help her with her car. Battery is dead, needs jump. I haven't jumped a car in years. We discussed it a little in the living room and then trooped out to the driveway. We immediately set to work doing everything wrong. Now we had two dead batteries. I called Drew.

He gave me the correct instructions. We pushed the truck out of the way and moved Dean's rental car into position. We did it right this time but the car still wouldn't start. So, ok, we'll deal with that later. Dean moved her car next to the truck. Hooked it all up again and the truck started right up. While we were letting it run I looked at the effed up fleet of cars sitting in my driveway. We have Kyle's running but unreliable car, the dead-for-a-year Grand Am, the truck that was being charged, Lindsay's dead car and the van with the busted out window. I could just wallow in despair. I'm certainly entitled. But I just looked at it all and shook my head. It's was like a scene from the halfway point of the feel-good movie of the year.

We got the cars straightened out. Lindsay wanted to get the battery out right away so she could run down to Sears and get it tested. But it was pretty late in the day. We decided to take it out and take it to Sears in the morning. I was thinking ok, this is it. It has begun. Things are falling apart and we have to fix them. I can't call Drew every time the water heater goes out.

Lindsay immediately put some gloves on and started gathering tools. She put on safety glasses. Kyle was trying to help but she breezed right past him. I was freakin' impressed with that little girl. She set right to work. The bolts were pretty rusty so it was hard to get the terminals loose. But together we managed to do it. I got a phone call and Lindsay and Kyle got the battery out. Victorious and triumphant.

Afterward I got down to the serious and important job of getting off my feet. Bob called (he's called me every day). Mindy, Dede, Tori, Tyler and Dad stopped by on their way out to dinner. After they left I joined Dean on the front porch. After hanging out for a while we went inside to watch the Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show. I got two phone calls right in a row. One was from Jeff. I had to call him back later. One from Kim Root. I had a very nice conversation with her. She's going to help Bill Wolfs contact Jim's classmates.

I called Jeff back. Man, I think that call lasted an hour. Great phone call. I haven't talked to him that long on the phone since we were teenagers. He had such nice things to say about Jim.

After I came back in the house I watched the second showing of Trucker. Dean had gone to bed. Kyle came out and sat with me on the couch. We had a good, long talk. As we spoke I felt our relationship solidify. Sounds dopey but that's the best way I can describe it. I didn't blog about this but the other day I had a very different but equally as bonding conversation with Rory. I lost one fine man and gained two.