Family Weekend

It seemed like a long weekend with Uncle George's funeral on Saturday and our Easter get-together on Sunday.

Saturday morning we were up relatively early to pick up the house, get the car washed, and to shower and dress for George's funeral. Wanda made it to our house promptly at 9 am and we were on our way to Holy Cross cemetery in Culver City at around 9:20. You can never be sure about the traffic through LA and there was a slight slow down near LAX, but we found our way there about a half hour before the 11 am service.

We were greeted by Kathy Oliver who had spent the last few weeks up in LA visiting her father daily and who seemed exhausted emotionally and welcomed our hugs and love. We all milled around greeting cousins and friends before the service. Eddie and Calla Chevalier were there with Tim and Ian, Mike Chevalier dressed in a somber black Hawaiian shirt and shorts continued his tradition of dressing to his own standards.

The priest gave an interesting homily about the meaning of life and the importance of how we fill it with love for others - a trait of George's that was profound in his willingness to take in and feed the less fortunate. George's caretaker was the second to speak. Philip is from the Philippines and he and his wife and son have lived with George and Jean for at least three years providing care. Philip spoke lovingly of how George taught him English, facilitated bringing him here from the Philippines, and often played ball (in the house) with his son. Eddie then got up and gave a great tribute to his father and how he found the greatest pleasure, not in travel or possessions, but in his family.

Just before the service started, Lisa, Cale and Amy appeared after having gone to the wrong chapel at first! It was Cale's birthday on Saturday, so they didn't join a good portion of those who attended as we were all invited to a lunch at Tony P's in Marina del Rey about 4 miles away. The Chevaliers hosted a lovely reception on the waterfront which allowed us time to catch up with a number of our extended family.

Leaving mid-afternoon, Carolyn, Wanda, and I stopped off in Newport Beach to show Wanda the new sailboat which required us to take off our non-marine shoes to board her. I think Wanda is looking forward to her first sail.

After a quiet Saturday night, Sunday dawned bright and clear and warm. Carolyn prepared a great brunch for Wanda, Lisa and Katie and us which included fresh fruit, mimosas, sausage and the creme brulee french toast we had enjoyed in Lake Arrowhead. Fabulous!! Then we took our croquet set down to the lake for a vicious game where both Lisa and I declared ourselves poison and tried to slam the heck out of everyone else, but Carolyn was able to create some strange sort of force field and we kept missing and she snuck by to win.

To facilitate our weird schedule and the ecumenical nature of our group, we had our Easter service at Saddleback at 4:30. This being the eleventh of twelve services, Pastor Rick Warren was sounding a little raspy, but the service alternated music between the discussion of five points from his Purpose Driven Life on "What on Earth am I here for?" And, of course, the first purpose is that our life is for God's pleasure and that we should glorify Him. At the services close, Pastor Rick challenged those who hadn't sought God's purpose to repentance and to follow Christ.

Then it was home to rest up for the start of another work week. Happy Easter!