Continued:
My children are incredibly energetic and inventive. Under the direction of Mike, they spent hours transforming my sadly neglected flower beds all around the house into weedless, nicely trimmed, and newly-mulched perfection. After we rejected a number of restaurants for lunch after the funeral, we decided to have it at home and they bought disposable tableware, more food, and other necessities. We went to "The Rain Florist" and ordered a long spray from me for the back of the coffin, and individual baskets from the others.
Five friend/neighbor couples had descended on us on Tuesday with a array of casseroles, salads, rolls, cold cuts, sides, and desserts. We ate some and were able to freeze most of the rest to serve on Saturday.
An incredible number of cards and notes came in and are continuing with each mail; I cherish every one of them. Also, we received a number of beautiful flowers, plants, and gift baskets that still grace the house.
Appropriately, I guess, it poured rain on Saturday as we drove to Ventnor. I thought that would keep people away, but the church was packed. People from every phase of Pat's life were there--guys and gals from his first grade years, from his old Ventnor neighborhood, from high school and after, from Ewing where we lived 41 years, from our good group of newer friends. So many relatives came--not only my sister and brothers, but many of my nieces, nephews, and others. Pat's brother, Bill, is the only survivor of their family and at 84 and ailing, he was unable to be there, but his wife and all four of his children came. We had people from California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Vermont, and North Caroline, not to mention, of course, Tokyo and Singapore.
The mass itself was lovely, celebrated by a friend of daughter A.'s and with the eulogy by my brother, Larry, who goes back almost to babyhood with Pat.
More later...