August 5-6

Out and about on Monday morning running errands and trying to keep my mind clear. There were other events taking place in Lititz but I was not there for one simple reason: I just couldn't be. I was present when my mother said goodbye, I said my goodbye at that time and I felt no need whatever to relive the moment especially for the benefit of an audience. Everybody deals with times like this in their own way, mine may not be the accepted standard but I make no apologies. In my younger years I was traumatized by similar events and I've never forgotten it. When I was thirteen years old my grandfather in Elmira passed away, my father's family held three nights of viewings at two hours each plus the funeral itself and I was FORCED to be present for EVERY LAST SECOND of it. Two years later my mother's grandfather passed and she wanted me to be a pallbearer. I resisted because it made me uncomfortable, I wanted nothing to do with it but she refused to take "no" for an answer. When I reached the age where I could make my own decisions one of them was that NOBODY would ever subject me to anything like that ever again. When a loved one passes away I can accept it but I will deal with it my own way, anybody who doesn't like it can keep their opinions to themselves because I don't care what they think. To anyone who would say "that's just terrible, why couldn't he be there for his mother?" I would say "where the hell do you think I was the last sixty-two years?". I was at the cemetery in the afternoon after everyone had gone and from an emotional standpoint I'm at peace with it because I know in my heart I did all I could do and at this point there isn't anything more I can do. In the evening I made my first trip west of the river to the ballpark in York. I hadn't been there yet because I didn't want to be thirty miles from home if an emergency arose but that is obviously no longer a concern. The Revolution jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a Telvin Nash two-run home run, Carlos Franco's two-run shot in the third made it 4-0. The visiting Somerset Patriots exploded for eight runs in the middle three innings, the Revs got one back in the fifth on a Melky Mesa RBI hit but it wasn't enough as the Pats took it 8-5. Julio Perez suffered the loss in relief of starter Duke von Schamann. On Tuesday Helen was in Willow Street for an appointment, we got lunch for ourselves and Jenny and ate at their house in Quarryville. We had some rain in the afternoon but it cleared off, night #2 of summer hockey went on as scheduled. The games were Gold vs Orange and Blue vs Green, they pair off again on the 15th and 27th. Take care, thanks for reading.