I spent most of the day in the basement of Albert's Mom's house. The basement had become a storage area for lots of treasures for decades. Others had done a serious amount of cleaning and sorting over the last year leaving a big but manageable job. I mostly sorted, boxed, and bagged things for donation, disposal, particular people and then things for further review -while the folks upstairs cleaned and prepared for the Monday after-funeral lunch. I took a couple of breaks to welcome new folks as they arrived, but I managed to get lots done. And with the exception of a few bumps and bruises and one terrible incident with an undrained hose to the face (eeewwwww), things went pretty smoothly.
After dinner we decided that Albert would stay on until Saturday - so we cancelled, changed and re-made travel arrangements. Then, at a little after 9pm, we headed out in separate cars headed to BWI for Albert to return his rental car and to pick up the girls in mine. Sadly, Rachel's plane was late - so after killing some time in a diner with Emily, getting Rachel, and dropping off the rental car - we finally got back on the road at a little after 1:30 - so at 4am we hit the sack -
This morning we all headed out to the church for visitations and mass. It was freezing and windy, but at least there was no snow or ice - and as a bonus, parking near the church was empty even though the church is only a block from the beach because nobody in their right mind would be outside at the beach on a day like this.
After church, it was back to the house for some time together with family and friends and a nice lunch. At some point in the afternoon after everyone who was not staying for another night from out of town had left, Albert hid out - trying to catch at least a small nap. We stuck around talking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company until around 9 pm. After a long day, it was time to get back to the hotel and start winding down.
Back at the hotel, I used the chance to walk for an hour on the treadmill since the day had been cold and I had not really taken a chance to walk much. Now the lack of sleep is starting to catch up to all.
Tomorrow morning we have a short service graveside and then another wave of folks head out. In the evening, the girls and I will head back to BWI to start our travels home. Then, just "the kids" will be left for a few days to try to get things to a stable place before heading their separate ways.
