Last Friday our friend, Howard Kalwies passed away. Today was his memorial service. It was a good service. There were good talks, and beautiful musical numbers. Jacob played the organ and accompanied (on the piano) the violinist, Karen Martin. She played/s so beautifully. It makes me wish I could learn to play.
As I listened to the speakers share their tender memories, I felt just a little uncomfortable. Not that a funeral or memorial service does that to me, but Howard was not a close friend of mine. So, I did not know him as well as those who spoke knew him. And as they shared their stories with us I felt as though I was eavesdropping on a private moment. It made think.
His daughter Catherine is my age, and she and I would hang out at camp. She lived in Illinois, and I in Iowa. There was one summer at camp that we were out “heart attacking”* other campers’ tents. There was thunder in the air, and it hadn’t started raining just yet. It was very late at night, (possibly “early in the morning” would be a better way to put it) and we were trying to stay hidden. We saw headlights, and we dove into the trees closest to us to hide. You would never guess where we landed…that is right, the compost heap. As soon as the cost was clear we headed back through the trees to our camp site. We got there just in time for the car to pull up and tell us that there was a huge storm headed our way and every body needed to head to the lodge to sleep for the rest of night.
The storm came and went, in the morning there were branches all over the place, some tents were blown in (these were army tents), many things were wet. It was an adventure.
We talked about this memory as we ate lunch, and Catherine said it perfectly, “Funerals make great reunions.” It is true, while we may not be able to escape regular life for a birth or a wedding, most people are able to get away and pay respects to the deceased. I am sorry for the occasion, but it was nice to have such a gathering of Howard’s family and friends.
* Heart attacking (for those who may not know) is a friendly alternative to toilet papering. You cut out a bunch of hearts and tape them to the people/tents/bedrooms/houses/cars. You can even write nice little messages on the hearts if you feel like it. A fun idea for Valentine’s day or an anniversary-don’t forget the person’s favorite candy. One other alternative is to use little twigs and paper and make mini-teepees (generally filled with candy-you can use suckers for the posts) and put them all over and leave a note that informs them they have been TP’d (only leave the note if you think they may not understand the pun).