Yes, I'm posting at 6:20 (ish) in the morning. I was asleep by 11:00 last night ... just plain pooped. I woke up at 5 this morning and rather than mess with poor Max (who has to get up in 15 minutes or so), I knew I needed to get my Pour Out a Blessing blog emailed out and so, I sat down in front of the computer to do some reading. I'll go back to bed when Max gets up.
It's been a weird hour or so, though. I did something I never do, which is read obituaries. I went to one of the funeral home sites from Sigourney - where I grew up. It was interesting to read about parents and family members of kids I knew in high school, people that I grew up with in my church and in the community. Sigourney must have been a healthy place to live, these folks were all in their 80s and 90s!
I've been thinking about Dorothy Phelps a lot lately. She was the church organist in our church there. She was so proud when we decided to build the new parsonage next to her home and really watched over us. She told my father that I should take organ lessons, so offered 4 free lessons. If I enjoyed it, he could begin paying for lessons, if not, then we'd call it good. I tortured that poor woman with "Nights in White Satin" because I really didn't want to be there. But, she helped me work out the pedal line from the score and we went ahead with it. 4 lessons later, I was done! Never did like the organ. But, I liked her and she loved us.
My high school chemistry teacher died a few years ago and then there was a big writeup on Virgil Behrens, an Iowa State Patrol officer who lived in the community. Quite an honorable man. That job defined his professional life and much of his personal life, but he was a good man. His stance was ramrod straight and I just don't remember him out of uniform. In fact, I also tie my memory of him to his Iowa State Patrol car.
It was funny to read through these and work through my memories. A wonderful guy whose wife just tormented him all the time, another who had been a philanderer and finally married the woman he'd had an affair with for many years. Another man who silently put up with an absolute witch for a wife, and then 2 years later, there was her obituary. Whew! I discovered that a couple of marriages of high school classmates were still intact, though I never would have imagined that could be (at least they are still listed together).
People sang in the church choir with me, taught my Sunday School classes, worked in the offices and shops in my community.
Obituaries give so little information about people, memories can be so full. It's good to remember.
