I went to Sunnyvale this weekend. My cousin’s ex-husband died last month and I
went to support her for the wake. His
name was David Price and he left two children behind. I had known him for 20+ years on and off. I didn’t hang out with my cousin constantly
but when we did I hung out with him. It
was a rocky time when their marriage split and he didn’t have any shyness
calling me to talk about it. That was a
doozy phone call, that first one. But it’s
a hairy time in someone’s life when they realize the marriage is over. Now I can go one of two ways here, continue
to talk about the wake or talk about when my marriages dissolved. Maybe a bit of both.
There was a beautiful slide show that his daughter, Ellery
put together. She had songs by Dylan,
the Stones, and the Beatles paired with the pictures. I was surprised at how many pictures he had
posed for over the years. I couldn’t
help but think of my wake and thinking there’s no way they’ll come up with that
many pictures of me. It’s always about
me. The deacon even had us sing a Dylan
song, Forever Young and Let It Be by the Beatles. It was nice.
4 people got up to talk about him.
A former co-worker, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, his son, Owen and
finally Fatima, his wife of 11 months from Brazil. I did pretty well through the first three but
when Fatima started talking I really got hit.
I still have a very vulnerable spot connecting me to my Dad’s
death. She just reminded me of my Dad
and Betty and how Betty was left behind with nothing but memories. Yeah memories are good, keeping the person
alive in your heart is good as well. But
if the physical presence is out of the picture, I’m sorry, it hurts. I recovered and moved on. And we all moved on to the reception where
other former co-workers met and shared stories.
It was really nice.
David was only 62 when he died and I realize today how young
that is! Yikes. That age is just around the corner. He was diagnosed with Bile Duct Cancer only a
year before so blammo, one year sentence.
It could happen anytime. David
was sick with Crohn’s Disease for a long time and maybe that had something to
do with it. I’d likely be diagnosed with
a brain tumor or heart break when I go.
It seems as if that’s where I have the most chronic pain. I’m at that magical age where anything can happen
now. I’m not courting it mind you, just
stating the obvious. A few friends had
come up from Southern CA to pay their respects.
I was touched at the show of emotions when everyone shared. He was a strong member of AA and it showed
with his home group members showing up to honor David.
He was one of three writers for HP in the nation that wrote
newsletters for employees. They gave him
a lot of rope too. There was a few readings
from some of the articles he wrote and I thought what a great job! You get to write with a subject but you can
go anywhere with it, within corporate reason.
He wrote so much that he published a book of 42 of his favorite
articles. He also finished and published
a book about Jackie Wilson or somebody in baseball. He did both of these books in the past year as
well. So he accomplished more dreams in
his past year. He married his soul mate
that he had met online from Brazil. He
traveled to another country to meet his love and set a course for them to marry
despite a death sentence hanging over his head.
I am actually proud of David and the actions he performed. He got to talk to his kids about his death
and I am secretly jealous of that. That
was the one component of my dad’s death that I sorely missed. But I don’t want to compare whose death was
better for the kids. His kids are 21,
way to young to lose a father at. I’m
truly sorry for their loss and for Fatima and lastly for my cousin Mira.
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