Sunday, September 12, 2004

Friday .. uh, Saturday .. uh, Sunday

It is Sunday evening already, and I am wondering where the weekend has gone.

Friday was a slow day. We made it to Mom & Dad's to drop off the rents of both apartments. We met Cocoa, their new teacup poodle. We had Malcolm with us and he loved Cocoa. He loves other animals, but doesn't understand that his size alone scares them first. They never get to see his sparkling personality, because they are too busy running for their lives.
From there we came home, hung out, and generally vegged. Later that evening we made our regular appearance at Todd's Karaoke Bar. We did leave earlier than usual, as I had to be up at 4:30 AM to begin the tortutous process of getting ready for work.
4:30 came. It did. The clocks without mercy began screaming for me to 'get up already'. I was in the parking lot at work by 5:40, twenty minutes before work time. Waahooooo. I worked 10 hours on Saturday. That was 8 hours of time and a half and 2 hours of doubletime. It was a good day.
The day was not without it's sadness. While returning calls to my cell phone during break, I found out that my great aunt, Lydia, had died. She was 97. It was not totally unexpected. She had a stroke a couple weeks ago. Until the stroke, she lived in the home that her and her husband, Uncle Malcolm, shared until he died, ten yrs ago. She still kept her house. Her daughter in laws came by weekly to do the big cleaning, and her sons or grandsons kept the yard mowed, but she took care of herself. She will be greatly missed. Her husband was my dad's pastor when dad accepted the call into the ministry. Dad, eventually, became their pastor. Uncle Malcolm's death in January 1994 marked my return to poetry. At least, it marked my return to fervency in writing. "Welcome Home Valiant Warrior" was dedicated to Uncle Malcolm. Since then, I have written over 130 poems. "Heroes" at the bottom of this post is for Sister Lawson.
We had a monthly scheduled dinner with an internet group at 7 pm and following that we made a stop by Todd's for more singing. Another early night cuz I had to work on Sunday.
Sunday, I slept in until 5 am. We didn't have to be at work until 6:30. I worked 9 hours today. The viewing for Sister Lawson was this afternoon from 4 until 8. After getting home and cleaning up a bit, we went to the viewing. It was nearly full. I saw many people I knew that I didn't know. It is always good to see family, but never a good thing to see them over a death. It seems that only death unites everyone's schedules. It is the one thing that we all generally take notice of at the same time.
We came home, exhausted. Tammy is determined to catch the cold she has been chasing all weekend. She is about to go to sleep with Prince NyQuil. We will see if he is as good at inducing slumber as 'Jack and coke'.
Tomorrow at 12:30 pm is the funeral.

as promised above ..

Heroes

Heroes come
In shapes and sizes all
From wide to thin
From large to small

They carry voices
Both booming and frail
They know how to win
And they know how to fail

Heroes vary greatly
From one to another
One may be justice's warrior
One may be a faithful mother

Heroes stand
Just for standing
Heroes leap
Unsure of the landing

Heroes side with truth
Even in the face of the lie
And, sometimes, sadly
Heroes die

Heaven waits no longer
For you, Hero
Welcome home
Lydia Lawson

Ron Simpson, Jr.
September 12, 2004

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