By Georgia Osten
I recently attended a Memorial Service/Mass for a dear family member. Our brother-in-law, Jimbo, we called him. I’ve only known him for the past 40 years or so. He was a super-intelligent human being, I hated playing Trivial Pursuit with him. Let me clarify that, I hate playing Trivial Pursuit with just about anybody. The only person I’ve found lately who is even close to being that “brainy” is my friend Shirley – if we could pick teams, I would want to be on Shirley’s. I was asked if there were many people there at the Memorial? Well yes, you see Jim was one of 9 children and his wife is one of 7. Needless to say, the church was full of aunts and uncles and cousins, siblings and “outlaws” like me, an only child. Jimbo was robbed of his life and his intelligence by a devastating disease called Alzheimer’s, he would have been 69 in May.
After the Memorial, we rushed off to a Wedding Party. Our dear friend Brandon, like a son to us, married his gorgeous wife, Sarah, several months ago. They eloped in Hawaii. This was a celebration to bring us all together, all 300 of us, to rejoice in their union. The band played (loudly), the young people danced, we ate, we drank, we hugged everyone and celebrated the “beginning” of Brandon and Sarah’s lives together.
The weekend was a whirlwind – our emotions spewed from one extreme to the other. Jim, I’ll miss you. I know you’re in a better place, but I wish the old Jimbo was still right here with us. Brandon and Sarah, “Carry on, love each other and bring us lots of little Childs.”
God Bless You All.
(This article published 4/20/2015)
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you.
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