We packed up the Escape for a quick trip to Fayetteville for Aunt Judy’s wake and viewing in downtown off Ramsey Street. Aunt Judy (actually my stepfather’s mother) but we agreed early on that Aunt Judy was a lot easier to deal with and the name rather stuck!
The room was filled with quite a few flower arrangements (including one we had sent with white roses which was one of Aunt Judy’s favourite flowers…I was quite happy with the effort the florist in Fayetteville put into it). A CD player had some big-band music from the 1940’s cued and Aunt Judy was at the head of the room in the casket next to her American flag (she served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during World War II, something a lot of people didn’t know).
This turned out to be a nice thing being able to see people that I haven’t seen in many years and swap some sea stories about my times with them and Aunt Judy. She used to joke that she was going to live to be 110 and make everyone round her miserable as a result…and I honestly felt that if anyone had a good shot at it, she did! She literally looked like someone who time just plain forgot. For someone who was 82, she’d have the age guessers at the State Fair fooled every time to the tune of 20 years!
It was nice seeing Anne (Lee’s sister) and her family who live in Greensboro. I hadn’t seen Sandy or Dan in quite a while and like me they were some of Aunt Judy’s many strays…kids who came into her life and were forever changed as a result of it. Then there was the Girl Scout delegation including Meghann’s former troop co-leader and her daughters who both took a liking to Nicholas. If Karma had her way, I think she would have taken Nicholas with her…but certainly not without a fight!
In fact, there were more than a few cute baby mode addictions going on at this viewing…Nicholas just couldn’t help himself! Once the cascading reaction started, it’s rather like trying to shut off Chernobyl when the control rods were wrecked…i.e. ain’t happening!
Nicholas has shown an innate sense of how one behaves when one is in a solemn situation such as a baptism or a Mass and this was no different. He really was a trooper even with a tooth poking through that was obviously hurting him. You know he’s not feeling so hot when he refuses food! But for the most part, he was content enough to play with his toys or be cuddled…or both. Between Mommy and Karma, he was certainly getting the cuddle and play time.
At the end of the viewing, it was time for us to say goodbye and pay our respects before heading north to Clayton for the evening.