Oh, my aching back!

Let's see....where did I leave off with my earlier posting???
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Oh, yes, I made a passing remark about the celebs we recognized and about those we did not, at Billy's memorial service. Prior to the memorial as folks trickled in and sought seats, Justin and I read our service folders which included a lengthy biography about Billy. There is mention about where he was born, being in a military family and so on. Where he went to school, about his music teachers and his desire to study musical theory what has become FCCJ. Little was mentioned about his family, wife and kids, or his extended family, which, I guess, is expected, depending upon who wrote the biography.

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The service was orderly, not one bit of irreverence or whatever could have happened at a high-profile event like this. As Pastor remarked this a.m., even a non-Lutheran funeral can be reverent. We expected music and got it, but were not fully expecting to hear and see Bob Ritchey (a.k.a. Kid Rock) singing a gospel song, nor did we anticipate Hank Williams, Jr. to recite his father's hit: "I Saw the Light" , by heart. When Kid introduced Hank, he called him "Bocephas" which comes from Hank Sr.'s nickname for his son.

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One of the less spectacular moments but certainly memorable was when Billy's son, Brandon, went up front to play a song in honor of his dad. Another young man sang the hymn as Brandon played one of the other "performers" guitar, for which he thanked them. At first he was a bit choked up but once they got started and his friend sang the song, it went better. At the end, though, both young men were in tears and hugged each other in thanks and comfort.

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The preacher was a personal friend of Billy's and was not the official pastor of this church. He spoke about how Billy lived large, but remembered the small. Once in awhile he slipped in remark about how Billy knew the Lord and vice versa but mainly the theme was about living large, Billy's generous nature, extravagant gifts, and so on. He did modify his theme to include "live for something eternal", and also commented that Billy's life was filled with blessings as well as demons which he battled daily. Those demons went unspoken but most of us knew what they were. I only wish I could have gotten closer to Ellen, and hold her hand or squeeze her shoulders. Maybe during the week when the hubbub is over.....

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One of the more exciting things for me was being able to stand in that church and "sing with everything we got", as coaxed by the preacher, "Amazing Grace". This means that Justin, me, and everyone else who participated were singing with Lynyrd Skynyrd!!!! Just another day in the life of Kim!

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My life is so exciting I can barely stand it, and in fact, today I am best friends with my heating pad again. The vacuuming and such yesterday plus getting ready for the Youth Group Super Bowl party is killing my back!!!!!

Whew! What a day yesterday!

Yesterday began with a thud as we had no water and did not get water service restored until early afternoon. My heart was breaking for my neighbor, Ellen, who had to get ready for her husband's funeral and probably had a houseful of company with no flushing toilets. Many folks took the initiative of scooping pails of water from the swimming pool to use for the toilets. Imagine in the Bible days, and even presently in some countries, the people carrying water in giant jugs on their shoulders. You just do what you gotta do. I did not see anyone bathing in the pools, however.

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When I arrived at church to clean, some ladies were already there making preparations for the funeral later in the day. Carol was there tending the altar and such so we got to chit chat a bit before I got busy. I did manage to vacuum the chapel but just as I was getting to the breezeway door, the suction part of the vacuum cleaner quit working. The beater kept going but no picking up. Humphf! Instead, I picked up the obvious schnibbles (sorry, Lisa!) and considered it good enough. Maybe Richard can take a look at it to see if it needs a fresh bag or has an obstruction or something like that. I was not about to do that at this time.

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Carol told me the tragic tale of losing her "pocketbook" on the way to a wedding in VA last weekend. She inadvertently left it in a booth at a Wendy's and by the time she realized it was not in the car with her, they had traveled an hour and a half from the "scene of the crime". By the time they got back to the restaurant, it seemed as though the workers had sort of put together a denial as to any knowledge, claiming another lady called to report the missing purse and described it to them, so they gave it to her..............yeah, right.....Not pointing any fingers or anything, which would be without proof, they had to set about cancelling credit cards and such for protection. Their cash money was in the purse as well as car keys, all her identification, medication, irreplaceable information often found in ladies' purses. She does not wish to discuss it anymore though because it is so upsetting, as I heard her tell this to someone at the funeral reception last night. I told her about Lifelock, a type of insurance one can get to secure your identity and such in these situations. She may look into that so this will not happen again! Fortunately, Joe had his credit card with him or they would not have been able to buy gas or make other payments the entire weekend with their own cards being stopped.

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Originally I had planned to wash my hair at church but since the kitchen was being used to prepare food at the time, I thought it best not to even try putting myself in the kitchen. I would just take my chances that the water was back on at home and I could clean up there----not!

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Justin and I were privileged to be personally invited to the funeral service of my neighbor, Billy Powell, and I was charged with asking a select few of the other neighbors to attend as well. All came that were invited so The Palace had a good showing of support. Justin came here first but since I was going to another funeral later and he was driving his friend, Jesse, around, we took two cars. Arriving in plenty of time, we found the church without problem and were not bothered by the security. I wore my red coat in honor of Billy and because it was blame cold outside.

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Some of the neighbors were already seated so we went in the row behind them. Two went up to see the memorial display in front of the church so I did, too. There was one beautiful photo of Billy at the piano, leaning back and laughing---yup, that was him! Others were some awards including the induction into the Hall of Fame. The sound crew was still getting things fixed up and were not reverential but we were early so I excused them. As more folks arrived we kept wondering who was who, and Justin made the remark to me, "Look at all those mullets!" Must be trademark, especially in aging rock 'n rollers. Lots of hugs and 'good to see ya's' were going around, as I imagine many of these people hadn't seen each other in a long time. It was interesting to watch the interaction and reaction of people and speculate privately over who was who.

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As we left the condo, two huge limos were parked in front of Ms. Huntley's house, apparently waiting to go pick up the family and entourage for the funeral. Just before the service was to begin, a set of doors in the front of the sanctuary opened and in they came. At least 5 or 6 rows of people came in, the band and their spouses or "dates", family, close friends, Kid Rock, and Hank Williams Jr...............Yes, you read that correctly. Ellen came in toward the end and sat in the front row, aided by her daughters and a walking stick. From our vantage point it was difficult to see her but what we could see just broke my heart.

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On a screen pre-service was a slide show with background music by the Christian band Billy used to play with, Vision. Most of the shots were of his career but the most moving for me were the family shots, their wedding, eating wedding cake, Billy playing with the kids, Ellen and Billy in the back of limos on tour, and so on. Quite moving! And the way, we, his neighbors, remember him, a family man, out walking his dogs.