Raymond

We laid Ronnie's dad to rest today. 

I didn't do an entry last night because I ended up sharing my hotel room with a friend of Linda & Ronnie's (and a friend of mine too you could say). So sitting up typing at 12:30am would have been rude. 

Linda and I said bye to our parents at 9:30am on Friday, and started our trip this way. We were doing great until we crossed onto Long Island. Then it was just a shit show of traffic. On the GPS (Google and Waze) it said we'd arrive at 2 and then just got later and later. And it was too late to do anything about it as we'd passed both ferry options. On paper, it would have been the same amount of time and about 100 dollars if we did the ferry, but, Linda said we should just go. 

Big error. We got to the hotel after 3. Linda didn't shower before we left so she jumped in the shower to get cleaned up. I had showered before leaving, so I got dressed, got us some coffee, and we made it over to the funeral home to Ronnie's family at 4:30, just a little later than expected. 

The wake was long, and we had an early morning today as the mass was at 9:30am. Ugh. The wake was good, lots of people and lots of chatting and fun, a photo video montage of Ray and his whole life. The four grandkids made it there - one had just gone back to college in New Orleans and one actually lives down by me. 

Lots of friends and new faces. Our cousins Jimmy and Joey came out too, which was so sweet of them. Everyone loves Ron so coming to support him it just felt natural to want to be here. 

The funeral was a full mass, a little weird at times and I'm too tired to write much about it, but Ronnie's dad would have loved it. Ronnie's mom sure did. 

We had a mercy meal at a nice restaurant near the cemetery, got to chat with Linda's boss about his Alfa Romeo and siblings. It was psychically exhausting to be "on" for so many hours but tonight I'm in the hotel room by myself. And it is bliss. 

We're trying to get together with a couple of our cousins tomorrow for a visit. That would be nice. Still up in the air. I offered up our hotel lobby (they have a starbucks) and Linda was thinking of a diner but so many things have closed and Sundays are hugely crowded. We'll see what we come up with. 

After the funeral, after the meal, we went to Ronnie's mom's house. Everyone is big exhausted, but we got her settled into her chair and brought things around and got her water and cookies. Linda toured me in the backyard and the garden is beautiful. Ronnie and his brother were there, but his sister had to take her son to the airport to go back to school. Everyone had a big talk, which she said "it's not the time to have this talk," but what to do about the house and her living there alone. She has feelings but listened to the boys, who both think she should move into a new place. 

Dad didn't want to sell the house - it was his pride and joy. They all love the house too. But. They'd been encouraging him to move them into something smaller and easier, with a full bath and a bedroom all on the first level, for her. He didn't want to, but now he's gone so the argument is done and they can start thinking about what to do. To be honest - I'd love to buy this house. Ha.  

It was time for us to go, so she hugged me goodbye and told me that this was going to be weird for a while. Hugging her, I agreed and told her to think of it as a big family party, and he just left a little early. She'll see him later, but, just continue to live the love and enjoy the party. She laughed and said he would have loved that analogy. She'll continue to enjoy the party. 

We also discovered that Ronnie's niece Lisa who lives about 40 minutes west of me in Virginia is driving home tomorrow. Had we had a clue about anything, I could have ridden home with her. We all assumed she flew. But no. She drove. So she may be able to bring my treasures (ie: Beer) purchased in Maine 

And a picture. Ronnie's family had beautiful flowers and the sunflowers and red flowers spray was my favorite. We all added roses to the top of the coffin. Forever Yours.

digits

Friday

Exercise: 7 minutes according to the fitbit. I fell just short of the dedicated 10 because it was just too exhausting to think of finishing.

Blood Glucose: 
7:30am 173
4pm 183
11:45pm 250 (just ate dinner)

Food: bad. lots of road snacks, coffee, protein shake, blah blah blah. Dinner last night was a salad with buffalo tenders but they were horrible. 

Saturday

Exercise: lots of movement during the day, Dedicated 10+6 more at 11:30pm

Blood Glucose:
7:30am 209
11pm: 239 (just ate dinner)

Food: 
7:30am Protein Shake, coffee
11:45am - mercy meal. antipasto; salad; chicken in butter lemon sauce with broccoli (literally 1 broccoli). 2 pieces of bread; a few cannoli; wine; water
10:00pm: stuffed mushroom caps, shrimp appetizers, salad; vodka+soda; hard seltzer; water