Don did look up my blog a day or two after he got home from Trader Joe’s. He did read my entry about him and his beloved wife, who passed away November 11th. And then he asked me if I would read the part of that entry about them at her memorial service the coming week.
I said absolutely–that he could hold it at 2 am and I’d be there in her honor and his.
And then my Crohn’s went bonkers.
When it’s like it was last Saturday, a single swallow of even water can create an effect like a bad case of stomach flu; fats make it worse. (An aside–I wouldn’t mention that here, except that I want to explain to the several kind people who offered me the cake that was chocolate in memory of Don and Amalie’s wedding cake back in the day. I did think it was a wonderful way to celebrate her. It was hard to pass it up.)
But I was going to that celebration of life, and there was no way I was going to let a little thing like Crohn’s stop me. I did give him a heads-up just in case, but I was going. It eased up enough, and today, (thank you dear God!) after being extremely careful all week, I got to go hear stories on one of the good influences and good friends of my younger life.
I did have to chuckle at one woman’s asking me, before things got started, if I’d met Amalie at the Senior Center. I didn’t tell her I was only 49, although part of me was tempted to grab onto that number and dangle it in protest, as if it weren’t 364/366ths of the way towards its expiration date. I mean, I know the hair’s gray and that there are good plastic surgeons in California, but… Too funny.
I loved the story Don told of when he proposed: “Will you marry m”YES!!!” He chuckled and said it was exactly like that. To which I wanted to say, well, of course; Amalie knew a good thing.
Don, am I allowed to share the one about her not coming out at the “Here comes the bride” music being played in your friend’s living room because she was still trying to decide which wedding dress to put on? The friend popped her head in the door, Amalie asked which one looked better, the friend pointed to the one on her (because, um…) and exclaimed, “THAT one!”
I hadn’t thought they had any children, but then, there weren’t waterproof hearing aids to wear at the pool back in the day; they had a son who is clearly as gentle a soul as his good parents. He noticed that other people had someone to sit with whom they knew, and I did not, so he sat across a table from me and we shared a bit of the day together. When I struggled to hear, he was entirely patient with that.
His good parents raised him well.
I dearly wish I could tell his mother that in person.
Although, in a way, I think I just did.