Michigan Trip

As a kid, I remember many trips up to Michigan to visit my grandparents and other aunts and uncles in Flint. They were always long, but I also appreciated the time to read when my brother and sister and I weren't bugging each other.

The trip up this weekend was a good one, even though we left at a late enough time that we hit the awful combination of rush hour traffic and construction snarl in Cincinnati, so that combined with stopping for lunch had it take 10.5 hours to get up there, rather than the 9 it should have, even without kids. We got to the hotel and all the family had just returned from the visitation at the funeral home, so we got to see everyone, even though we were tired from our trip. We got to catch up and show pictures of the kids and it was good. The relationships between all my aunts and uncles has been so great. Everyone really likes each other, even as much as they love each other, which can be rare in families with 3 kids, not to mention one that have 9 kids, like Grandma and Grandpa did.

Saturday was a roller coaster day. At the funeral home, we saw Grandma's body, which was so well taken care of. They made her look so beautiful; so different from what we saw on Tuesday night. I got to talk to a cousin in Hungary and they even put the phone on the podium so she and her family could hear the funeral there. We looked through a lot of family albums with all the kids and their families and it was great to reminisce about all the family reunions we had had and the good times we had as kids. The funeral was nice and it was about what you expect from a Church of Christ funeral. Lots of singing and a brief sermon with the hard salvation sell at the end. Overall it was nice.

We didn't go out to the cemetery immediately, but went to Grandma's church and were provided a wonderful meal. We all say around and talked, not necessarily about Grandma, but just with each other about many things. It's always been that way with that side of the family. Even with all the personalities, we all find someone or someway to get along. After the lunch, we went out to the cemetery, where I got to see Grandpa's grave for the first time. My dad's parents are buried here in Nashville and I get out to see their graves every once in a while, but I'd never been out to see the other. Grandma had already been buried and so we stood around and told stories of Grandma (many having to deal with food). It was very nice and cathartic to do that. Afterwards, Sheryl and I went and found Grandma's 10th child who died the day she was born and would have been my aunt two years older than me, which is something else I'd never seen.

After the graveside service, we went back to the hotel and hung out for a while, playing some cards and then went to supper at a burger place. And after that, the best part of the evening: 12 of us went bowling. And we had a blast. Just an absolute blast. Laughing and playing and cheering each other on. Just more fun than I'd had in quite a while. And someone might wonder, "Didn't you go up for a funeral? Was that respectful to your grandmother's memory?" To which the answer is, "Of course, it was."

Look, one of my grandma and grandpa's favorite things to do was to watch their 9 kids and their kids interact with each other. They loved watching us play and have fun and laugh and I believe with all my heart that that is how they would've wanted to act in their memory.

Even with the circumstances, it was a trip that was a lot of fun and was a great way to remember both Grandma and Grandpa.