jay | The hard stuff

Today... began the hard stuff. Grieving the loss of a loved one, someone vivacious and thoughtful and loving... but it was good to see examples of how many lives she'd touched. There was an open-casket viewing from 5-8pm. It was... eerie, but they'd done a good job in arranging her. Her daughter Rania wrote a note and put it in next to her. There was a large turnout, drawn from college friends and Parrotheads and their church community and relatives and other friends.

Today's date... it would have been their 17th wedding anniversary today. She was 39. Hard. I saw a few people today that I hadn't seen since their wedding.

After the viewing, the immediate family gathered at a nearby restaurant for dinner... it was good, we could support each other. I had a Cuba Libre for the first time since Spain. And steathily arranged to pick up the check, something I wanted to do to support Coby. Besides being a, er, habit of mine. (wry grin)

Tomorrow... 10am service and interment, then a luncheon at my parents' house.

West Cobb Funeral Home

This is the location of today's open-casket viewing and tomorrow's service. Social custom prohibits taking photos of the viewing itself, or room with the casket and flowers and visitors, so this external view is all that is OK. My parents have expressed a preference to use this place for their own funerals, whenever.

Family dinner after the viewing

After the casket viewing, which was rather like a wake without alcohol... immediate family gathered at a nearby restaurant for dinner. From left to right: Rasheed (Nadia's father), Gail (my mother), Vicky (my sister), Aliya (Nadia's sister), Rania (my niece, partially obscured), Kiks (Nadia's mother), Zaria (my niece), Coby (my brother), Jack (my father), and my Uncle Jerry.