Hey all - I asked cousin Diane for a rundown of events, and so am posting it. Thanks to her for all her communications.
It was a tough one. The kids (Sabrina, 4 & Luke, 2) didnt attend the wake, thankfully, but they were at the mass & reception at the K of C afterwards. The mass was as per Padre Pablo's usual: beautiful. He always seems to put a different spin on these situations and certainly eased the pain, even if only for the moment. Brooke's Sister/Aunt* spoke of her as did her since-childhood friend. Very sweet, very sad. *sidebar: Brooke Lynn was raised by her grandmother and grew up thinking her aunts were actually her sisters. Brooke weighed only about 1 lb at birth and her short little life was a miracle in itself. She was a sweet little girl who seemed too innocent to be believed. She was troubled at times, she craved acceptance, she was loved and she loved the best way she knew how. Like the rest of us, she wasn't perfect but she didnt hide any of herself, what you saw was what she was. There was an almost too-obvious innocence to her that just made her "Brooke." Very charming, endearing and even a pain in the ass at times - which makes her family i guess. And... cute? oh, jeez - make you sick she was so freakin' cute! If she weighed 95 lbs it was alot - tiny little girl with huge dark eyes - like one of those vintage shabby-chic big-eyed kids lithographs from the 60's. I'll send you a pic later - They made up the wake-cards with photos.. (Is that what they're called? wake cards? we call them Death cards, nice & morbid.)
David is walking around in a fog. Sometimes he looks so lost and hundreds of people have been hugging & clinging he has been holding up great. He sees the kids at the wake (my kids, etc...) and puts them at ease when they obviously have no idea what to say or do, he'll hug them and say "It is so special that you came today, Brooke really liked you and blah, blah..." It's like he is running on auto-pilot. At the reception, he was very sad, but still paid attention to the kids - chasing Luke, just like always. Luke is clueless, but Sabrina - although she KNOWS... she doesnt really know. If someone says something about her mother to her she politely says, "Thank you very much, but I don't want to talk about it right now."
Aunt Doris is a rock-star. If any of you ever had any doubts - she is just amazing. This is all too close to the Uncle Jerry situation - and again Aunt Doris holds her head high and takes care of business. I want to be just like her when I grow up.
Joe (Gregory), Karen, Linda & Michael and their families all rallied together with their brother to help him get through this. To see an arm around a shoulder, or a half-smile glance across a room - it's family.
Funerals suck for everyone, but when it is a young person like Brooke, it is surreal. I kept looking over my shoulder - looking for her, becasue this shit doesn't happen to young people. I was speaking to the other cousins and we decided to have a barbeque or something this summer to erase the fact that although we've all seen eachother alot lately - it's been funerals. Jerry and then Uncle Don lost his mother AND sister within weeks.. Its nice to get together but I am sick of it being in funeral chapels.
It was a tough one. The kids (Sabrina, 4 & Luke, 2) didnt attend the wake, thankfully, but they were at the mass & reception at the K of C afterwards. The mass was as per Padre Pablo's usual: beautiful. He always seems to put a different spin on these situations and certainly eased the pain, even if only for the moment. Brooke's Sister/Aunt* spoke of her as did her since-childhood friend. Very sweet, very sad. *sidebar: Brooke Lynn was raised by her grandmother and grew up thinking her aunts were actually her sisters. Brooke weighed only about 1 lb at birth and her short little life was a miracle in itself. She was a sweet little girl who seemed too innocent to be believed. She was troubled at times, she craved acceptance, she was loved and she loved the best way she knew how. Like the rest of us, she wasn't perfect but she didnt hide any of herself, what you saw was what she was. There was an almost too-obvious innocence to her that just made her "Brooke." Very charming, endearing and even a pain in the ass at times - which makes her family i guess. And... cute? oh, jeez - make you sick she was so freakin' cute! If she weighed 95 lbs it was alot - tiny little girl with huge dark eyes - like one of those vintage shabby-chic big-eyed kids lithographs from the 60's. I'll send you a pic later - They made up the wake-cards with photos.. (Is that what they're called? wake cards? we call them Death cards, nice & morbid.)
David is walking around in a fog. Sometimes he looks so lost and hundreds of people have been hugging & clinging he has been holding up great. He sees the kids at the wake (my kids, etc...) and puts them at ease when they obviously have no idea what to say or do, he'll hug them and say "It is so special that you came today, Brooke really liked you and blah, blah..." It's like he is running on auto-pilot. At the reception, he was very sad, but still paid attention to the kids - chasing Luke, just like always. Luke is clueless, but Sabrina - although she KNOWS... she doesnt really know. If someone says something about her mother to her she politely says, "Thank you very much, but I don't want to talk about it right now."
Aunt Doris is a rock-star. If any of you ever had any doubts - she is just amazing. This is all too close to the Uncle Jerry situation - and again Aunt Doris holds her head high and takes care of business. I want to be just like her when I grow up.
Joe (Gregory), Karen, Linda & Michael and their families all rallied together with their brother to help him get through this. To see an arm around a shoulder, or a half-smile glance across a room - it's family.
Funerals suck for everyone, but when it is a young person like Brooke, it is surreal. I kept looking over my shoulder - looking for her, becasue this shit doesn't happen to young people. I was speaking to the other cousins and we decided to have a barbeque or something this summer to erase the fact that although we've all seen eachother alot lately - it's been funerals. Jerry and then Uncle Don lost his mother AND sister within weeks.. Its nice to get together but I am sick of it being in funeral chapels.
11 comments:
Thanks, Diane.
Thank you, Diane. I can't imagine how painful this has been for everyone.
Wouldn't it be cool if we could organize a big caravan of us midwestern hicks to Long Island for a get together with our Big City relatives?
Tom
Yeah, we could bring our tents, and elvis and dig a hole and put a fire pit in one of the aunt's lawns and and and...
Maybe we can meet in the middle somewhere? What lies between NY and everywhere else?
-diane
Iowa.
yes, I think I've heard that before !
Maybe we could meet at Straub Brewery. Would we ever leave?
THanks for this, Diane. It's hard to be so far removed from all that is happening. I cannot imagine how a family with young children can cope with this.
Do you guys remember when the David and Michael came to Whittemore, and they danced at a Whittemore dance - they were break dancing and all the kids thought it was SO cool.
P
I do, that was so funny. They were rock stars for a day.
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