And I went to her funeral in Orillia yesterday. Three hour drive there and back. There was a ceremony in the church with her casket. It wasn't an open casket because apparently the final surgeries left her badly scarred.
I was surprised to see this image in her slideshow.
I was the only male in a group of six called The Cougars which had three older women in it. For anyone who doesn't know, cougar is a slang term meaning an older woman who is into young men. So they thought this was a good photo concept, even though two of the girls are quite young.
Yeah, so the photo is shown over the church and strangers are shooting me glances and giving me these small smiles. Later on people would say "You're the guy from the photo!"
After the ceremony, we go to her old high school where we have an less formal get-together potluck and time for sharing stories of Bri. I guess I never said it, but the first time I met Bri, she said I reminded her of her brother and that she knew we were going to be best friends as soon as she saw me. I found that quite a strong reaction from someone I hadn't met.
Well, her family's the same way. I'm getting hugged and getting my faced rubbed and being told how sweet I am when I've said next to nothing, and people keep giving me food until I've had three plates and they're still giving and telling me to take the leftovers home with me.
Hahaha, really expressive, really warm and open family.
I got to meet the brother she always said I was like. He was cool. I can see it. Pretty complimentary to be compared to him. I kept being told to tell everyone I met about Bri's comparison. When I went on stage to tell my Bri story I mentioned it and everyone laughed. Maybe there's something I'm not getting.
On a less self-involved note, there were a lot of powerful stories. They said that they knew she was going to pass before she did. They didn't report it after the two events of heart failure she survived, but at that point they knew she would not live long, and she knew it too. They read her a poem about death and they read that poem to us during the ceremony. She apparently passed moments after the poem was finished. Wow, the idea that she "let go" is... I don't even know.
Her drama teacher spoke. She was a TA for her drama class throughout high school. Her family spoke, including her brother that resembles me. Lots of strong emotions. I even cried a little. Funny, when I didn't cry at the memorial service, I felt bad about it, and when I cried at the funeral, I felt bad about that.
Well, we're out of this crazy January! I hope this was a bad month, not a bad year! 2014's supposed to be good luck compared to 2013! Jeez!
We went to dinner after and I told my Malian stories. WAHAHAHA! It was perfect luck that when I had them go to my Facebook to look at some of my key photos, the Chick Magnet photo had just been FB "liked" by a Malian girl.
Got two midterm exams next week. Midterms already? Whaaaaa? Oh well, nothing to be done about it. One is tomorrow and I am NOT PREPARED! I have to studyyyy today, I've had too much other stuff going on.
No comments:
Post a Comment