That was nice Tony. Sometimes we just don't know.

Old man probably never told his kids he was proud of them either. I bet mom heard it though. Have you told Don what she said?

Sorry you lost a buddy, ute... I hope you can use what you learned from him to add another facet to your own particular idiom. That way he isn't entirely gone from you... And you.... Well... We constantly change and absorb other people's influences, dont we.

Don that is... no real names in the thread

Yes. I agree 100%: we are a product of every person we've ever come in contact with. With every interaction, we share parts of ourselves, even if we don't mean to, and we change. We may not even know that it's happening. It's the Star Wars force. It links us together with a power we don't even completely understand.

I'm going to Don's on Sunday to sit Shiva with them. Maybe mom will be there. I hope she will be, and that she talks about him.

Right. Don. Sorry, Tommy.

Just don't get confused and shit Siva.

This is a shining example of why The Cellar is the best fucking place on the Internet. The tale of the old man's passing and its effect on you, Toad, comes across like a story told across a campfire, with toasts raised to the departed, amongst family of choice and old and vital friends.

I make very little delineation between my Cellar family and my family of choice/lifelong friends IRL. In fact, in some ways, the Cellar is better, because it is like being involved with people in a near literary manner. That's fuckin' special.

My condolences to you, UT. I am not at all surprised that you found that you were appreciated and admired. After all, we've been appreciating and admiring you for a minute or two already.

That is nice of you to say.


:)

I'm sorry you lost a friend, but I'm glad you found out how much he thought of you. UT, I hope you realize how highly we think of you too.

Beautifully said, glatt. That's just what a funeral will, ideally, generate ... connection, community, and warmth in the context of loss, remembrance, appreciation.

My condolences, UT.

I'm lucky that haven't done many funerals yet, but the thing I have noticed is that there's a lot of people collected together missing the dead person but almost invariably there's an undercurrent of good-spirited bonhomie, people are desperate to have a bit of fun remembering the dead one but nobody dares to be the first to do so (laugh, smile,...) openly and honestly.

In my experience, the wake is where the release of tension comes and the expressions of warmth and community make themselves felt. At least, in the Protestant world. The Orthodox funeral and wake are decidedly more loss and grief-focused, even though the clergy wear white Easter/Paschal vestments. It's an interesting dichotomy. Not the focus of this thread, however.

Cow orker reports this today:

Enthusiastic customer: "I have a charm! Can you tell me what it's worth!?"
Steve: "You have a zipper pull."

Do people bring in dental gold (i.e. gold caps)?

I have never seen it happen.

I was just curious. Googling "dental gold", I found this pawn shop advertisement to be most interesting: http://www.royalpayscash.com/whereto...dinchicago.htm