October 17, 2005 6:47 pm

Recap of The Trip

:note: nothing

The weekend was surprisingly light-hearted.

Thursday:
We got into Coeur d’Alene (pronounced “core-duh-lane”) at about 10pm Thursday night and stayed the night there along with Heidi and Aunt Dawn.

Friday:
In the morning, Aunt Kair-Kair came over and we hung out for a while and then left for Sandpoint, because Daniel’s dad (Dave) and brother Paul and their friend Mike were playing guitar and singing at a local wine bar that evening. The wine bar thing was fun; they played “Ruby Tuesday” and “Ground Control to Major Tom” and some others I recognized (they’re strictly a cover band, I think).

Everybody went back to Dave and Tami’s house and drank a bunch of wine. I ate pita chips and laughed with (and sometimes at) everybody. Dawn demonstrated her infamous “butt dance,” which involves flexing individual buttcheeks with the beat of a song. HILARIOUS.

Saturday:
We have breakfast and take pictures at Sharon’s house. Heidi is insane. :D

family

kids

Daniel and I go with Heidi and Meagan to Coeur d’Alene to go shopping and visit Hi-Kid. I got a new shirt, some eyeliner, and new mascara at Target, and some stripey socks at TJ Maxx. Heidi buys a million dollars worth of clothes at Target.

We come back, and somewhere along the way we meet this cute little Pekingese named Moko.

moko

Daniel and I make our way to my parents’ house and we visit and watch both Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2, in a row. We get back to Sharon’s around midnight. Heidi comes over with a friend around 12:30 and leaves shortly thereafter, and Daniel and I go to bed. Around 1:15am, Paul and his friend Steve come barreling through the house screaming Bon Jovi songs at the top of their lungs. We don’t fall asleep.

They retreat to the back of the house to play ping-pong, but then Heidi shows up again with several people in tow. One of them spoons with Daniel as we lay in bed and lots of pictures were taken with Heidi’s camera. I just wanted to sleep. They finally leave. Sometime during the night, I get bitten by fleas. :mad:

Sunday:
Daniel, Heidi, Meagan and I all go out for breakfast before the service. I had Belgian waffles. :yum:

We drive up Schweitzer mountain and pick a lovely place to scatter Nana’s ashes. I’ve never seen human ashes before – they’re a lot lighter in color than I thought they’d be. The whole incident was very touching. Later we joke about saying The Lord’s Prayer (“forgive us our trespasses…”) afterward since there was a “DO NOT TRESPASS” sign leading the way to our chosen spot.

The actual service was in the afternoon. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but Nana and Hi-Kid were both active members of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Nana specified that instead of a traditional funeral she wanted a memorial AA meeting instead. I’ve never been to an AA meeting before, but it was PERFECT for Nana. So many people shared their experiences with her, and it was definitely (as Hi-Kid said several times) a celebration of her life.

We regrouped at Dave and Tami’s house and visited for a few hours, and then decided to head over to Sharon’s to hang out and play ping-pong a bit before we had to leave. I get bit by fleas again, and Daniel and I run to Safeway for some antihistamine and anti-itch cream. I hate fleas. We also get a Kaluha Cream Pie and some muffins for the drive home. I am very itchy.

Monday:
Gretchen woke us up at 6am and we left by 6:35am. We stopped in Coeur d’Alene to say bye to Hi-Kid and Dawn, and then made our way back to Portland. We were dropped off around 4-ish, and Gretchen and John continued on to Port Angeles, WA.

That basically brings us to the present. I’m still itchy (have they not come up with an effective flea antidote yet?!? I’m already on Claritin and applying Lanacane cream) but I’m home and I have most of my homework for tomorrow done.

I’m glad the service went how it did. It was beautiful, meaningful, and perfect. Nana couldn’t have asked for something better.

grandparents

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3 Comments

  • Nicole says:

    I am very happy that the service went well. It was nice that the service was able to be held the way she wanted. It sounded like a very touching event. Funerals should always be about celebrating life, thats how I would like it at least.

  • You know I read this last night, but my headache was so bad I couldnt even remember if I commented or not.

    Welcome home, I am glad you managed to have some fun on your trip despite what it was for. And its nice to hear that her service was just as she would of wanted it, thats hard to find sometimes…

  • I agree with what the others have said, and am glad you are doing ok Meggan.