I Should've Stayed In Bed!

Tootsie crawled up from beneath the sheets and started licking my cheek, and then neck. I slowly opened my eyes, irritated, and I glanced at the clock. It read: 6:59. I grumbled at the dog for waking me up before my alarm! Wait a minute, I normally get up at 6:00 AM... what did the clock say? 6:59 AM! Oh no, it's an hour later than I thought!! I've somehow slept through my alarms, or turned all 4 of them off without knowing it and gone back to sleep. I fly out of bed, run through the shower, and jump in my car only to sit in traffic for an hour and a half. It didn't get better.

At school I rushed around looking for coffee to kill my caffeine headache, my short fuse ran out at 9:30, and the students were in rare form - the cycle of the moon always screws everything up! I grit my teeth through a stressful school day, blew my stack with an hour and a half left of class, and then sat through an excruciatingly long meeting. Then I rushed off to my Tuesday afternoon group where my non-existent patience was sorely needed. I made a student cry.

Then I jumped into my car and drove to Fairfax to meet my brother at a funeral home for a viewing. A childhood friend of mine, whom I have not spoken to or seen in years, passed away last week from Cancer! He was younger than me, and is survived by a wife and 2 children. I found out about his death on Sunday and decided that we should go to the viewing.

I remember this friend fondly from our swim team days, cub scout meeting, elementary school classes, and numerous sleepovers! It's been surreal. I saw his mother at the memorial service for my Mom back in July. I can't remember if I knew that he'd been battling colon cancer. Recently they discovered it had invaded his body to an alarming degree. It was everywhere. He went quickly. I only heard about through the grapevine this past weekend. He'd been dead for 3 days.

At the funeral home the room was packed when we showed up and apparently Catholics need to say 1,000,001 Hail Maries at such an event. I stood in the back of the packed room for an eternity as the crowd mumbled in unison. Finally, the crowd broke up and it was possible to move through out the room. Oh, and I didn't realize it would be an open casket! He didn't look real. He looked like a wax figure - his hands, the thin face, and the make up. I wasn't prepared.

The family thanked us for coming. Reb and I bumped into childhood acquaintances, old friends, and familiar faces. Wouldn't you know it several people even offered us condolences on the death of our Mother. Out in the parking lot a woman approached us yet again to chat us up about Mom. She got a little emotional. This has been a strange day.