April 20th… 2 weeks since my Mom passed. Now normally, April 20th, or “420”, would be a day to celebrate; this day was supposed to be no different. We had our son’s school’s fund raiser this evening; we were planning on going. After all, the theme was “Dazed and Confused”… hell yeah. One of our favorite movies to watch together, my wife and I would be there, dressed up in 70s gear, and in a celebratory mood. Yet, on this day, the term “dazed and confused” took on a whole new meaning.
The day started the same way we had planned. In commemoration of Earth Day, we would be cleaning up & “mulching” at our local park, the park where my wife is the president of the advisory board. Not exactly what I wanted to do on this Saturday morning, but it was good. My wife is into cleaning the park, the neighborhood, etc, and my son and I have been right there with her. I remember my Mom too… she may not have went throughout the neighborhood and/or over to the local park to clean, but she cleaned… she was always picking up something in front of the house, in the yard, on the curb. It was a daily task. I’d like to think my Mom is proudly watching all of us out there doing our thing, cleaning up the park, the earth, on this Earth Day.
The next stop on our day would be to Indiana for my niece’s birthday party; the first family gathering since the funeral. It would be… different. The best part about this “party” would be that we were all together again. That is always the morale of the story here, but especially now… as we all help each other navigate ahead. Listening to, talking to, leaning on, hugging, crying… we’ll get there. As we all left, at least in the back of my head, what would be next? Well, the next day we would all be getting together would be Mother’s Day… yeah…
OK, back to the rest of the evening. I told my wife I didn’t feel like partying; she understood. Yet, we still had her Mom willing to watch our son, so… we hung out. Checked out this 80s bar near the house. We each had a martini, mine of the “Horchata” variety; I had a beer too. And we sat at the bar, celebrating 420… I tried not to get too deep into stuff on this evening; taking a small mental break… as if that were truly possible. Still, it turned out to be a nice night out together. We ended up swinging by our neighborhood pizza place afterwards, and seeing the owner who we hadn’t seen in a long time. She BS’d with us the whole time we waited for our slices; that was cool too.
Sunday would bring a whole new sport for us to watch my son play: Track and Field! Yeah, pretty excited about that. Onwards and upwards…
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