Bugs in my Bra

Today was Dad C's memorial service.

It was hard and good and funny and sad and enjoyable and heartbreaking and just how it should have been.

Mom C thought she was being generous when she told the curling club and the ladies catering the lunch that we would expect 150 people. There were 250 at least! Standing room only, to celebrate an incredibly great man.

We had a table display of some of Dad's sports memorabilia (including a pair of hockey skates that had been sharpened so many times that there was nothing of the blade left), some picture displays (Dad was really built back in the day... all that hockey, baseball, and curling!), and some beautiful flowers. I couldn't spend much time looking at the memorial table initially. It was just too hard. But I really loved the pictures.

My Beloved was the emcee for the service, and I think he did an incredible job. I was so impressed with how strong he was through it all. My BIL, D (the oldest) read a poem he wrote for Dad for his 60th birthday, and BIL K (married to my Beloved's sister, P) gave the eulogy.

One of the highlights of the service was when a woman came up to share some memories of Dad... she is the mother of a now rather highly ranked Canadian curler (who, I think, has some high olympic hopes). She shared about Dad's influence on her son's life, about how Dad inspired her boy to take up curling and how he coached the boy for years. It was really special to hear her appreciation for all Dad did for junior curlers in the community.

After the service and the lunch, when we were all emotionally spent and extremely overheated from the crowded room, we went back to Mom's house (man it's weird to call it that). Several members of the extended family joined us for the afternoon and evening. There were a few occasions that I had to remind myself that Dad wasn't going to walk around the corner tinkling the ice in his glass of pep.si.

Later in the afternoon, the wine was poured and we all started to get a little goofy. My Beloved's family are happy drunks (not that they are drunks... but they get silly when they have had a few) and it got a little loud. We were inside and outside... fighting over lawnchairs, watching people play 'the golf ball game' (I don't know what it's called, but its pretty popular around here as an outdoor game).

In Mom and Dad's yard there are a couple of trees that at this time of year, are loaded with inedible berries. Because of all these berries, there are a lot of aphids.

Now, when I say a lot, I mean A LOT! They were everywhere. We were all covered in them. They were all over my hair, my shirt, occassionally crawling up under my skirt, in my drink and, as the title of this post suggests, down my shirt and in my bra. We have been home for almost an hour and I still feel itchy.

At one point, I made a comment to one of my tipsy SIL about the bugs crawling up my legs and down my bra and that was it... we were all killing ourselves laughing. I was extremely red in the face (altho that was probably the wine).

It felt good to laugh like that with the family... and I know that Dad would approve.