July 2, 1998
Dear Everyone:
Email.
An unusual means of standing vigil, but a surprisingly effective
one nonetheless.
For those of you who don’t know it yet, Dad passed
away peacefully in his sleep last Sunday night.
All through the past week, Mother would send reports to me via
email, and I would forward them to the rest of the family who had
access. This included
everyone except “Byron” and “Jeannie”.
“Byron” kept in touch with Mother by phone and was close enough
to stop by on occasion. And
I printed everything for “Jeannie”.
So everyone was kept informed.
Having so many people on email made all the
difference. No having to
leave messages on machines and waiting for a call back.
Even with folks in three different time zones, it was relatively
easy to stay connected and keep everyone informed.
Every morning, when I got up, I would wake up
Oberon, then go downstairs for juice and vitamins.
Oberon seems to have almost as much trouble waking up as I do;
but he would usually be alert by the time I came back upstairs.
Then I’d log onto AOL
and check for email. And
each evening, I’d start the computer up as soon as I got home.
I think Mother found email superior to phone calls
for a couple of reasons.
One, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper.
Two, Mother suffers from what she calls “Aunt Alice Syndrome”.
Aunt Alice was a relative who got teary-eyed so easily that
Grampa said, “her bladder must be right behind her eyeballs”.
Nice to know it’s hereditary.
At an emotional time like this, Mother found it hard to talk
without tears welling up and getting in the way.
But with email, you don’t have to talk; you just
have to type. And an ocean
of tears couldn’t stop someone who learned touch typing from the
United States Marine Corps from saying what she had to say.
Mother decided not to have a formal service for
Dad, something for which I, for one, will be eternally grateful.
Instead, we’ll do something just within the family later.
Since “Frankie”, “Richard” and “Alice” had all already planned to
be in Oregon in a
couple of weeks, it will probably be then.
“Jeannie” and I will leave earlier than previously planned for
Ashland and
go on up to Canby
before the
Shakespeare Festival.
Then we can all get together for what “Richard” calls “a group hug”.
Also, I’m hearing rumors of a possible “good,
old-fashioned Irish wake”.
With a little Portuguese on the side.
Before all of this happened, “Jeannie” and I went
to see
The
X-Files movie.
“Jeannie” pronounced it disappointing.
She thought there would be more questions answered.
I enjoyed it, although I could remember nothing of the final
episode from last season, which was supposed to lead directly into the
movie. So maybe there were
more answers; we’d just forgotten what the questions were.
I’m including the article on
Mondegreens
because I think we could all use a little gentle humor right about now.
Love, as always,
Pete
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