gratitude

Last night I spent a couple of hours reading through the huge stack of sympathy cards my father received following my mother's death last January.

There were well over one hundred cards, many from people my parents hadn't seen for many years. It was a real tear-jerker, seeing so many familiar and unfamiliar names, realizing just how many people and families my mother had touched during her nearly 65 years on this fragile Earth.

One especially moving card was from Dave Pailthorpe and his wife. My father had worked with Dave at IBM in the 1970's (the last time I saw him). He and his family moved to the Atlanta area many years ago. The card we received from Dave and his wife (a former nun) told us that a Catholic Mass in my mother's honor is to be held this Saturday in Marietta, GA - the same day as our rememberance service will be held in Wolcott, NY.

Both my father and I failed to hold back our tears when reading that card again. In fact, my throat is tightening up even now (and the tears are returning with a vengeance) as I think about it.

I'm going to have a smoke now and compose myself, but first I want to thank a few people whose names really stick in my mind (forgive me if I cannot remember all of them):

Judi and Linda
Gary Lorow and family
Pat "Trish" Anthony
Bert and Paula Yeara
and of course Dave Pailthorpe and family.

By the way, I seem to have brought the Tallahassee heat with me. Rochester set a record high for May 24 yesterday: 91 degrees Fahrenheit.