Events in Review

Sunday:

Flew out to California in the morning (plenty of chill air, but no problems driving), going into SNA and picked up by Jim and Ginger.  Finally got eulogy faxed off to the coordinator at the church. 

Bummed around the Ks for a while, at which point people started gathering and, after various bits of trimming, we had a tree-lifting party:  brought it (13-odd feet of it) into the living room, got it latched to its base, and got it set upright (including a couple of chains toward the top to pull it back to the wall). 

Ate pizza and drank wine.  Good.

Monday:

Headed up to Santa Barbara around 11 a.m., and did the trip in almost exactly two hours (very light traffic from Villa Park, even on the 5 and 101).  We took one of the Ks’ cars, they drove up in the other. 

I’d opined earlier in the day that I wanted to eat at In-n-Out some time over the trip.  And what should happen to be literally across the street from our hotel (itself just around the corner from Nona’s condo) than an In-n-Out.  Yummy lunch.

Mom and Dad had headed down to the funeral home preliminary to the “visitation” to determine if it was going to be a “viewing,” too.  Margie and I drove downtown for that (Kitten stayed with Jim & Ginger), and attended the visitation/viewing, which was wrapped up with a Rosary at the end (which tested my own long-past memorization, let alone poor Margie who’d never done that sort of thang).

After a bit of milling about and exchanging condolences with sundry family members (I’d say there were about 50 people at the event), we headed back to the hotel, then we all went over to the condo where Mom and Dad were having wine and cheese for close family.  (The condo has gotten much shorter than I remember … though it’s possible I’ve become taller.)

Dinner that evening was at a nearby Outback — John’s clan, mine (including the Ks), Elda and Dave and Lynn, Dina, and Carmen & Ian.  Katherine stuck with her cousin Sean (which was the trend for the whole trip).  Good time.

Afterwards, went back and slept on a very hard bed.  We were at an ExtendedStay America, because of the convenience; it was okay, but it’s really designed less for “visitors” than “folks needing a place to stay for shorter or less inconvenience than renting an apartment.”  So, for example, no shampoo, and a rather “functional” feel to the whole place.  The beds were, as noted, pretty darned hard — but the place was clean and convenient, so no worries.

Tuesday:

Decided to skip breakfast.  Got all dressed and headed to the Funeral Mass at the Santa Barbara Mission (where, it was pointed out to me, Nona had taken all her sacraments — baptism, confirmation, and marriage).

I got to be a “triple threat” as far as responsibilities — I was a pall bearer, I gave the eulogy, and I did the non-Gospel readings.  For the latter (Wisdom 3:1-9 and 1 John 3:1-3), in case I might have gotten a swelled head, I got credited as “Dave Vial.”

I’ll print the eulogy separately here, as folks have asked for it.  I got a lot of complements for it (which was less my doing than my having a good subject), and a lot of people said it described Nona perfectly, so I guess I did a good job of it.

Katherine had been kind of hinky about the whole funeral and cemetery thing, and we did not press the issue (she was invited to come, she was allowed to bow out if she wanted) but when she discovered that Sean was going to be there, she decided she wanted to go.  She ended up walking up the aisle with me after I did the initial pall bearing up the steps of the mission, and sat next to me through the service (being Episcopalian, she’s had good training for ritual).  She was spectacularly well-behaved, friendly, did lots of hugs to people, and was an all-around princess.

After the Mass came the interment at the mausoleum at the cemetery.  Again, Kitten decided to go, and, again, was perfectly behaved.

(Side note:  the Santa Barbara Mission is run by the Franciscans, and is the only one of the California missions to remain in church hands since its founding.  The priest doing the ceremonials was a Franciscan, and under all the finery he had a brown hoody andwell-worn sandals.  It’s a gorgeous building, inside and out, and worth visiting if you’re ever in town.)

After the bits at the cemetery, we went to the reception, held at “Mulligans,” the restaurant at the Santa Barbara Community Golf Course — where Nona used to play quite a bit in her day.  It was a very nice gathering, with a great collection of pictures of Nona, and a chance for everyone who was still there to sort of wind down and say good-bye to each other.

Jim and Ginger headed back down to home after that, taking Katherine with them.  We had a bit of time in the afternoon to relax, and Margie I drove up to the old De La Guerra Terrace house to show it to her. Then she and I took my folks and my Aunt Carmen and her husband Ian to a nice restaurant downtown, Olio e Limone, where I’d gone during a business trip a few years back.

Wednesday:

We were headed out of town (after a big breakfast at a good local joint, Cody’s) by quarter after 9, and it took just a bit over two hours to make it back down to OC.  We hung out for a few hours, then off to John Wayne Orange County Airport (SNA), where we let Frontier wing us back to Colorado, and home, and a well-deserved rest.

Many thanks to Jim and Ginger for the logistics — including bed, car, and Kitten-care — to Margie, for all her support — and to my folks for giving us a role in saying good-bye to Nona.