RIP Uncle Louis.

My uncle Louis (my father’s older brother) passed away a few weeks ago and the service was last Friday in Los Angeles. My father is one of eight siblings and this was the first death among them, so there was the regular family drama, but nothing out of the ordinary (from what I know about families). My parents wanted to go and I wanted to go to the service too and I knew I’d make it easier for them to travel, so I went. We went for only the day, flying in on Thursday and flying out on Saturday. I booked the hotel within walking distance of many restaurants in Old Pasadena and on Thursday night, we had dinner at a seafood restaurant.

The day of the service was lovely and beautiful. We swept my grandparents’ grave before the viewing.

A very very rare gathering of the family. Look at all of us being nice to each other :). Really, we are all trying. It was fun to see everyone and reminisce over way too much food. Omg, Aunt Liz ordered like 17 times too much food for lunch.

At the burial, Helen ordered a dove release which was actually very very touching and we all got to release a white bird. They flew around and around and headed back home over the hills behind the cemetery. I asked if they named the birds, but the bird handler said they owned more than a thousand birds, so no, they are not named.

My aunt Jane, who at almost 80, is still working and looking snatched! It was a very nice trip, one of the nicest trips I have ever had with my parents. I know! To a funeral! Us Lees are not good at vacations or just chilling, but give us a trip where we aren’t supposed to have fun and we rocked it. I chauffeured everyone around LA in our little Ford Escape and found parking wherever I went and mostly smooth traffic. And I was so happy we were able to go together.