I played hooky this past week. I didn’t write a blog post for Wednesday. In truth, I haven’t written anything for a week.
On Monday, I returned from an out of state funeral, services for a brother-in-law killed in a tragic motorcycle accident during a large family outing a week ago. It was a shock to everyone in the family. He was a good man taken too soon. We all had trouble wrapping our minds around it and accepting the reality of our loss.
It helped to tell stories about our past experiences with him, mostly humorous memories. Both he and I married into Macho Guy’s family and referred to ourselves as “the outlaws” rather than the in-laws. We bonded over a mutual dislike and distaste for mushrooms, a “delicacy” MG’s entire family adored. We also had a running battle of wits, coming up with zingers to top one another. My sister-in-law once ratted him out by telling me that in anticipation of a visit from MG and me, her husband had composed a list of barbs with which to out zing me when I arrived. That zinging came to an abrupt end a week ago. I will miss it, and I will miss him, but I will remember both fondly. Always.
