Three Beautiful Things 11-30-20: Phone Calls and Everett's Obituary, Resting, Pasta and Beans BONUS A Limerick by Stu

1. Christy, Carol, and I met this morning at 7 a.m. at my house. Carol used Christy's phone and I used Everett's to call members of Everett's family, members of our family, and some other people outside the family to tell them that Everett had passed away earlier in the morning. 

Christy and I had spent about an hour starting at one in the morning with Everett after he died. Our neighbor down the street, Tyler, arrived from the funeral home and Christy and he made arrangements for her to go to the funeral home on Monday afternoon. After we made our phone calls, Carol and I talked with Christy about what picture she might include with the obituary. As it turned out, Debbie Mikesell, the funeral home director, also helped Christy decide on a picture and helped fine tune the obituary a bit. 

The local paper published Everett's obituary this afternoon online. It's beautiful, as is the picture of Christy and Everett. If you'd like to see it, just click right here. 

2. After Christy and Carol left, I thought I might fall right back asleep, having only slept about four hours last night. But, I'd enjoyed two cups of coffee this morning and was wide awake. I spent the morning writing about Everett, our day at the hospital, and the thoughts and memories I had while with him and Christy on Sunday. 

I napped a little bit in the afternoon. 

I also watched some very entertaining men's college basketball. Until their game reached halftime, I watched the high flying, pressing, run and shoot St. John's Red Storm streak up and down the floor against Boston College. Then I watched another pressing, streaking, bomb launching team, the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, play Xavier in a nail biter that went into overtime.

Just for the record, here are the final scores:

St. John's defeated Boston College, surviving two furious rallies by the Eagles, 97-93.

In OT, Xavier prevailed over Eastern Kentucky University, 99-96.

3. It's odd. If I just cook up some penne pasta and heat up a can of kidney beans, season the beans with chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin, and combine the beans and pasta in a bowl and pour some parmesan cheese over the top, I've got a meal I find both delicious and comforting. It's a faint replication of Witch's Brew,  one of my favorite hot lunch meals back in the school day and it's a meal that I would never make and serve anyone else. It sure works for me and, this evening, filled me, calmed me, and helped get me ready to hit the hay early and have a long night's sleep -- during which, in case you're wondering, I was a taxi cab driver in New York City and picked up David Letterman who slept in the cab and wouldn't tell me where he wanted to go. I do not know what to make of that! 

Stu wrote a limerick that speaks beautifully to our family's life right now and reaches far beyond us:

If you lose someone close please remember. 

That for them ‘twas the end of December. 

Although they’re gone from your sight, 

Their memory still provides light. 

And in your heart, a bright glowing ember.