We made it through the Wednesday blizzard. The lights flickered at 9:30 in the morning and that was a bad moment. We spent the rest of the day eyeing them nervously, but the power held. I used to enjoy snow but I've never been so happy to see clear sky.
The roads are in better condition than I would have expected, but there are still massive problems. The funeral director called me this morning to say that Rockville Pike is OK, but their driveway is completely blocked. Could I come in another day? She's off this weekend, and it doesn't make sense to me to have to brief somebody else. So I moved the appointment to next Tuesday morning.
As always, she was perky and upbeat - "Oh, that's so kind of you," she said when I suggested holding through the weekend. Once again I felt like I was talking to her about booking a stay in a nice hotel. She has a more-than-faint Texas accent that, combined with the cheery tone, reminded me of somebody that I couldn't quite place. I finally realized that I was thinking about the voice of the pothole in that Geico commercial.
This made it even more unsettling when she took her customer service thing just a step, maybe, too far and said, "OK, then we'll just keep him in our cooling room so he won't..." Mercifully, she caught herself and trailed off, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. I mean, where was she going to go with that?
"...so he won't... y'know... decompose n'junk...?"
There are times when imagination is not my friend.
In fairness, under the circumstances, there's reason to be compassionate about the local funeral industry as well.
But it seems that we're going to continue at the current pace, which means a slow walk through the ceremonials. No choice when we're dealing with forces bigger than we are - death, snow, plowing, power companies...
The strangeness this weekend - not a different strangeness really, just an extension of the current one - will enter in when I drive past him, and past the neighboring major retailers running their Presidents Day sales, on the way to run my errands at CVS and Whole Foods. As before, I'll try to take this as yet another way of working with the experience.
More evidence, in case it was needed, that things are just so and not otherwise.
I'm thinking about you and your family today as you go about your arrangements. Positive energy for smoother sailing headed your way.
Julie
Posted by: julie | February 15, 2010 at 09:54 AM