Wednesday Wednesday

 A dreary morning as Dad and I made our way down to the Bay for Uncle L's funeral. A stop at the office beforehand for Dad to drop off some work. I felt quite apprehensive as we drove into the city as to how I might react to the funeral given that my maternal grandfather passed away the same day as Uncle L and we have not had his service yet. I do hate loosing it in front of people. Especially on this occasion, where I have only one firm memory in my life of seeing Uncle L - and that is from Wednesday seeing him in his coffin. It would have been a little strange to sob uncontrollably about my grandfather and have everyone wondering why I was so upset about Uncle L.

Thankfully I was so fascinated by the Catholic funeral mass there wasn't time to get emotional. It had been a long time since I'd attended a mass in the States, and the first time at a funeral. Most times I've been in foreign countries when I've attended. I did have a small moment when the nice catholic couple in front of me turned to take my hand and said "Peace be with you" - without blinking I responded, "Thanks". Only when the man across the isle came to greet them did I actually realize that was not the response they were looking for. I looked behind me and my paternal grandfather was sitting there giggling at my utter confusion over the process.

After the meeting/viewing at the funeral home and the mass at the church we headed to a small chapel at a catholic cemetery in Colma where there was another service. This time the Navy was included. It was the most moving moment of the day. The bugler stood outside the chapel and played Taps, then they did the flag ceremony and presented the flag to Aunt D. If the bugle wasn't enough when the military Chaplin was thanking her for Uncle L's service I was holding back the tears, barely.

After the cemetery, which my father kindly let me wander around, we headed to lunch. I enjoyed visiting with my dad's family.

 Grandma and her oldest sister Aunt A

 One of Aunt D's friends brought trays full of homemade Baklava.

I ate over 7 pieces and had quite the pile of honey covered wrappers. 

Everybody loves a good "me in the bathroom" photo, right?

COLMA - I do enjoy cemeteries. Such great art...and equally awful art.

Glad the clouds cleared away during mass.

Favorite picture of the day, me and Dad having a lovely time at lunch.