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Well ,I should finish off something I started on here 2 weeks ago .My fathers room mate got Dairy Queen 3 times that week ,but Wednesday was the last time as I left the room because my mother was going up to the room ,,I went down ,my mother got on the elevator and went right back up and upon entering the room ,my father took his last breath .It was a great ending ,because my son and daughter both took that day off work to visit my dad and did so in the early morning ,and both my brothers had visited that day as well .My mother wanted a funeral now instead of waiting ,so we did it yesterday ,yup July 4th ,hot hot hot gravesite service .My dad was a bugle player in cadets as a kid ,bought a bugle in 1943 which was the best he could find during the war but it had some quality issues and never played quite right .My middle brother is a pro trumpet player ,( he used to play with Maynard Ferguson )he played all the hymns for the service on my dads bugle ,and sent him off with taps ,which couldn’t of been a more perfect song for my dad ,he loved military stuff and bought the bugle to play taps on himself .
As it was a covid era funeral ,we were limited to 50 people ,all wearing masks ,all 6 feet away from each other ,and it was about 92degrees f .I tried ,but the nursing home wouldn’t allow my dads ice cream eating room mate out for the service ,but it would of been nice if he could of came .
Anyways we are still limited to groups of no more than 10 ,so unfortunately no reception after ,so no egg salad sandwiches (never been to a funeral without them before ) and honestly just a weird ending .
It was a good day in some weird times ,but my mother believed that since there has been only a handful of funerals taking place during covid ,she wanted to get it done as it will be a real mess when things get back a little more normal .I think that was a good call .
I am glad my dad was a bugle guy and not a sax man ,I doubt I could of pulled off what my brother did in the heat with our dad sitting in a little copper pot .
My mother beat the crap out of me every day growing up ,my dad was a boss in one of the biggest mines in the world ,and saw that I had the ability to take something apart and put it back together before I was 5 ,my older brothers were not allowed to touch his tools ,but I was and I did something every day with them .I have fed my family with those skills and abilities for going on 40 years .I certainly owe that ability to my dads encouragement .
It was a great day ,not a sad one ,90 years is long enough and he was ready to go a few years ago .He went peacefully .
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