Busy week: Funeral, Seattle, Snohomish, child-care, etc.

Holly, Margaret, and John Caleb went to her Grandma Madsen’s funeral in Snohomoish.  I had the two older boys here in Haines.

Margaret came over on Saturday and was chit-chatting about things when she mentioned in passing that she was leaving in the afternoon because her mother was going to die very soon.  Holly and I were startled and amazed that she mentioned it in such an off-hand manner.  Then Margaret left and Holly started to make plans: they left here at 3 PM and were in Seattle by 11:30 PM or so on Saturday evening.  They each just took a single backpack–Holly bought some ear protection ear muffs for the Wings flight to Juneau on the Caravan which stopped first in Skagway.

We spent 20,000 Alaska Airlines miles for the trip to SeaTac.  Holly and Margaret ended up staying at Mike & Dorothy’s house downstairs in the basement.  They made plans to take turns watching over Margaret Sr. and Margaret died around 4 PM on Sunday.  They spent the rest of the week taking care of the funeral arrangements: Holly was the Emcee, Margaret was the organist, Dorothy took care of paperwork & finances, and everyone pitched in cleaning and sorting all of the stuff at the Sunrise home where Margaret Sr. had been staying.

I quickly tried to arrange for meals in the evening and child care during the workday. The Greens had us over for dinner on Sunday and Monday evenings, Tom & Arlene Jackson invited us over for dinner on Tuesday (with Bob too).  By Tuesday night, the boys were so emotionally fragile by then that I thought it would be best to spend the evening alone with them reading stories and such.  For Day care, they went to Kim Larson’s ‘Kids R Fun’ Daycare during the mornings then went to the Green’s house in the afternoons (except for Tuesday afternoon which Mark spent with Dylan’s house while Rich’s Mother watched them).  Our Black swivel chair broke on Saturday afternoon and I bought a replacement at Haisler’s Hardware for $229 + TAX = $241.

The Memorial Service for Margaret Madsen was held on Wednesday at 11 AM and Holly, Margaret, and John Caleb were back in Haines by Thursday at 11:05 AM and they were dead tired (no pun intended), having caught the airport shuttle from Snohomish at 3 AM (2aM Alaska time).

We’re all back together again.