The Memorial

Sunday was the memorial for Ronald Joiner (Randy's Dad). It was amazing. The hostess was Sandy and her husband of course. The setting was beautiful and the service went really well. Most of the folks there I had never met, though there were a few that I briefly remember from the wedding almost 6 years ago; many that I remember names from sending holiday cards. It was great to put faces with names after so long! It was a nice setup with a wonderful picture of Ronald that Michelle had enlarged and a really fine box for his ashes.



Sandy and the rest of the gang made all the food and preparations. Uncle Percy made a huge pot of Jambalaya, which Randy has talked about for years. I pitched in by creating a collage of pictures to hang up and a slideshow DVD of the ones that didn't get hung up. I felt pretty useful in a time when I needed to be busy. Sandy handled everything with grace and style. I aspire to be like her! The boys did very well (they stayed in the playroom watching movies and playing with all the toys Sandy had for her grandchildren). I gave Nathan the option of being out with us but he chose not to be. It was around breakfast time when Nathan asked me where pops was. I showed him the box with his ashes and told him he was in there. He looked at the box, then looked at me, then looked at the box again and hesitated. I could sense he wanted to ask me something so I asked him instead. "Do you want to look inside the box?" Of course he has always been very curious...which is why I knew that was what he wanted. So I carefully opened the box so he could look at them. His only reaction was to say, "Oh, I thought the ashes would be black." At that point Grayson walked over to see what we were doing and asked what was in the box. I told him calmly that they were Pops' ashes. He said oh and that was it. I closed and locked the box only to have Grayson try to pry it open again. At that point I told him it would be best not to touch the box and ushered him away. I have such curious boys!

I came to the realization during the service, while hearing all the stories, that Grayson could be a mini Ronald. He is four and already flirts obnoxiously with the ladies. We cannot get through a meal without the raising of the eyebrows and the winks. We are in so much trouble! He is also smart as a whip! He has already started reading and will gladly tell everyone that he can read. In the car last week he announced that he wants to be an astronaut and wants to go into space in a space suit. He was very detailed about it for sure. Nathan wants to be a paleontologist, which I think would be wonderful. It is one of the things I would like to do in my lifetime: to go on a dinosaur dig. Maybe he will take me along on one of his expeditions.

Beignets!!

Grayson

Nathan

We went to Morning Call for the famous beignets. Both of the boys really enjoyed them. Nathan had at least 4 of them. I still haven't figured out which leg of his is hollow! New Orleans is definitely an interesting place! We went yesterday for Po Boys...french bread is all the rage here. Randy is in hog heaven. The area we are in has been mostly rebuilt, but there were still so many boarded up areas on the way in on I-10 that it is just unbelievable. When we get home I will upload some pictures I took at the levy (which is just a few blocks from where we are staying. It really is amazing to the hear the stories and to understand just how long it has been to get to where they are now. The memorial is tomorrow for Ronald. I have a link to the AJC obituary if you would like to see it and perhaps sign the guestbook.