Family Funeral

My Aunt passed away last week at the age of 94. I was fortunate to get to attend her funeral in West Virginia on Friday. She was a lovely and wonderful person. After the funeral we gathered at the home of a neighbor, who was so kind as to allow many folks, mostly strangers, to come into her home. The neighbor provided food and drink for all as well as a lovely place to be together and reminisce about my aunt.
I was floored at the outpouring of love for this person. Of course, I knew she was wonderful, but I actually had no idea of the full life she was leading right up until the end. Even at 94, she had fiercely loyal friends who showed up from the far corners of the USA to attend her funeral. She was regarded by all as a giving, loving, warm human being. I guess I had forgotten her, I was off in California for the last 15 years, raising my kids, getting a degree, working....you know how life gets away from you. She was widowed young and raised her two children alone. Well, now I can hardly say alone! After the outpouring of affection I witnessed in WV, I think she gave so much to so many, she had legions of friends. She lacked somewhat in finances and housing, but didn't lack a thing in areas that mattered. Wish I could be more like her! It was inspiring to be there.

I was lucky enough to get to see my own grandparents grave sites in Mannington. I hadn't had that opportunity for a very long time. I think Dad would have been happy about that.

It was a beautiful drive home Sunday, a few leaves changing on Rt. 68 through WV and Maryland.

Fall in Maryland

Yesterday was the most beautiful day I've seen in a long time. H & I slept in, as we had gone to see 3:30 to Yuma [should be underlined!] on Saturday evening. Sunday was great, we just decided to go for a drive. We ended up in Charles Town, WV. We parked the car and walked to the race track. We stood outside, with a nice breeze blowing and watched a horse race. We don't know much about racing, but it was interesting anyway. We went into the casino and checked it out also.

We also visited Antietam Battlefield. Awesome historical site. We were just in time to view the filmstrip about it and then we drove the 8 1/2 mile loop around the battlefield. Today is the 145th anniversary of that awful bloody battle. Civil war re-inactors were everywhere, it really added to the day.

Then we drove to Washington Monument State Park in Maryland. That was fun too, we hiked to the monument and looked out at the long view.

We found a cute place, South Mountain Inn, for dinner - H had rockfish and I had Chicken picatta. Quite good.

Home pretty late, tired, Monday AM was tough.