Michigan salute to sister Suz

Oh slap me upside the head a few times. Our sister (my sister by marriage but someone I loved dearly) lived for most of her adult years in Florida and died there. When folks started talking about a memorial celebration of her life up here in the Great Lake State, I was skeptical. What if this or that family member couldn’t make it? What if no one could make it? What about her friends, the ones she hasn’t probably seen in the decades she has lived in Florida?

Well, who the heck am I, fer kee-reist. Brother Jim and The Beautiful Becky grabbed a date (today) and arranged for a three-hour luncheon over at a wonderful restaurant in Troy. Almost immediately, a *host* of family members said, “I’ll be there and this and this and that child and their families.” Oh yeah, I almost forgot that one of my lots in life is large Catholic families. One of my favorite lots I might add and I so love to be a part of the cFam.

The GG and I got there a bit early because we were driving over to Megalopolis from The Planet Ann Arbor and we had technology to transport (TVs and things). It was quiet for a while with just us and a few siblings and their SOs and then the room FILLED UP with nieces and nephews and their children. And friends of Susie too. The GG and I had snagged seats at the back of the room and for a while, I was kind of wondering if that was the right place for a shy person like meeeeee to be. But then The Beautiful Gay (the GG’s twin brother’s wife and one of my soul mates) arrived and sat across from us and her children and grandchildren filled in around us and I had so much fun talking to all those folks.

At one point, a couple of very young children were running around the tables. I was enjoying that but when they started to get in the way of the servers, their dad (our nephew) squelched them PDQ.

I mostly hung out with family members but I did connect with Susie’s childhood boyfriend Doug from back when I first knew her, when I was first hanging out with the GG and going to the Cfam cabin with him. The GG once said that his dad, Grampa Garth, kept the old dirt bikes going for Doug and actually, we talked about those old dirt bikes today.

And then it was time to close up the party but a few of us did a “last call” at the bar. Shameless anyone?

PS. There were valiant attempts to take photos of groups of people at this event today. Siblings of Susie. Siblings plus spouses. The cousins… I didn’t try for any of those kinds of photos. I am not good at that kind of thing. My photos are intended to show that there were many people in the room and then a few of us hanging out for “last call”, not to display any single person or group of people. This is just us, a large family, getting together. The circumstances were not great but we love each other.

2 Responses to “Michigan salute to sister Suz”

  1. Elizabeth Carter Says:

    Its always good to see you ever vigilant attending every family party, you and TBG are the best twinswives ever. Its a comfort always to see you, and this time your daughter was there so sweet, we missed the ‘extra one’ just the same. You are great to have, Love you muchly.

  2. Margaret Says:

    The focus was on the people and the experience of being with them, not the picture taking. I am guilty of trying for too many photos sometimes at the expense of the time together. Glad your celebration of her life was meaningful and full of love and family/friends.