The last few days have been really surreal. Yesterday was the visitation and funeral, and there was obviously some strong regional character in what happened there. I am used to the usual protocol being a visitation period at the funeral home or just before the funeral in an hour long window. The visitation last night was two and a half hours long and Dianne (Jerry's wife, my mother-in-law) stayed in there the whole time. All of the kids (Mag, me, Jeron, Beth, Krista) were pretty much in and out. The funeral was upbeat and short, which is good, and the turnout was outstanding. The church was packed, standing room only. It was really cool to see so many people that were touched by him. I gave a brief eulogy, using the bit I wrote Monday as a major part of it, and then there was a dinner. That seemed a little bizarre, but I understand it's Minnesota tradition to do stuff like that. All in all, I feel a lot better about things now than I have since, and I think the rest of the family does too. I always thought that the group that spent that vacation in Germany was a core that would keep doing things for years and years and years. In fact, I know we will, even without Jerry, to keep his family going and keep his memory alive.

Maggie is an eternal optimist and always loves things to look forward to. Since normalcy has to return sometime, I'm looking forward to going fishing. Jerry loved fishing. Jeron and I were also sad that we didn't get to go turkey hunting with Jerry as we had planned this year. But, if you want to get a license, you can get it here. We're planning on doing it anyway, so I guess I have to do that application too.


Thank you, Warren G Harding, for the word normalcy.


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