Funeral Frenzy

We are presently in Colorado for Kira’s father’s funeral and the related events. We left Thursday afternoon and got in early Friday afternoon after spending the night at a hotel in Nebraska. 

Our Monday was fairly normal as I sat and graded almost all of the essays from my students. I am always surprised at how many of the students make no effort to even read the instructions, let alone follow them. It was exhausting and painful, but I got to the last five. Kira managed the kids, but had no work that night, so we did our best to do some prep for our trip.

Tuesday was my last long day in the “freaking city.” I gave three of my four finals, so it was not exactly an intense day for me, but I quickly ate up time trying to get ready to leave. Kira had it much worse, I’m sure, as they had a full day at home, including Avey’s violin concert that evening. Kira made sure to get the boys napped and fed before getting to the school so that they would not completely melt down once there. She is glad to report that they were well behaved, and bedtime was reasonable. I got home very late, and very tired.

Wednesday was full of packing. I mostly managed the children: getting them bathed, cutting their hair, and feeding them. Kira focused on getting them all packed. My back has still been painful, though much improved, so I’ve been trying to keep my physical exertion at a slow burn. Kira is also happy to do anything that involves checklists and organizing, so I let her do her thing and took the boys to the doctor for their flu shot booster and I got the oil changed. Hakan had some pretty severe cold symptoms since Monday night. He’d been coughing some, complaining of a sore throat, and had a stuffy nose. We skipped his flu shot booster for that reason, but had the doctor make sure it wasn’t something like strep. She said he looked okay for the road trip, but gave us a written prescription just in case we notice new symptoms and were on the road. He is doing much better now, but Merritt came down with the same thing Wednesday night, so he’s still dealing with it.

Thursday I was off to campus to give my last final. I felt terrible leaving Kira to do the last of the packing and getting the kids loaded into the car. She was to pick me up in Chicago after the final was done. I got my last few things done on campus that I needed to, and she got to me around 1:30, and we were on the road. We stopped at the hotel around 10:45, and got to sleep around 11:30, so we were all still very tired when we got up to get back on the road very early the next morning. The family viewing was scheduled for 4:00, and we worried we would be late. We made excellent time, however, stopping only once the whole day. We made it with time to get unpacked and have some play time before heading over to the viewing.

It’s been a sad, but celebratory time. The funeral was Saturday, and we’ve had lots of time to catch up with loved ones, and to reminisce about Kira’s dad. It seems to have been a good time for bonding and togetherness, and I suppose that’s one of the purposes of funerals. The burial could not be scheduled until tomorrow, so we’ll stay for that and then head back to our home on Tuesday. The kids have had so much fun with their cousins that I’m not sure they’ll want to leave…until we remind them where their Christmas presents are.

#Happenings