"I dote on his very absence." - William Shakespeare

I had a H.S. science teacher who looked like this.

I'm sitting in the Seattle airport waiting for my flight home. Yes, I am exhausted, physically and emotionally. But that's OK because it comes from good stuff. I just have to consume a LOT of caffeine between now and 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.

The church was nearly full for the funeral; maybe 200 or more people. Most of them did not know Eloise but had connections with the family. Both JR and Emily grew up on Camano Island and her mom teaches at the elementary school there. The island and Stanwood - the only town in the area - are small enough that there's a real sense of community. Emily's elementary school principal came.

No funeral/graveside is easy but when it's for a 4-year old child it's especially sad. That said, I'm sitting here totally wiped out and yet feeling very blessed. JR and Emily so clearly treasured their little girl, and their joy at being "family" with her is immediately obvious. I dislike some of the baseless sentimentality that sometimes swirls around situations like this, but I don't hesitate to say God clearly did a very good thing when he put Eloise and that mom & dad together. Eloise was "special needs" and Emily & Jr were special parents.

And another thing - a thing I told JR just before I left the graveside - I was pleased to see the way they supported each other. Part of my job is to pay attention to what's going on so I can step in and offer help when needed. So I observed the many times one went over and gave the other a hug, or a light touch. At the graveside they just held each other.
They are on the same page, a very important asset they'll draw on in the difficult days and weeks and months ahead.

They've also both maintained their sense of humor. We laughed about some funny stuff.

Like the headstone at the cemetery that read:
"In this life I had a ball
And I have no regrets at all,
Except for that last motorcycle ride."

Some general observations after three days in Seattle:

• Five people in the metro area drive Big Three cars. The rest all drive foreign brands with an equal distribution of east and west manufacturers. Honda may have the edge.
• Seattle and London are on the same latitude and both sit next to an ocean. That probably explains why the citizens of each look like they’ve been hiding in a closet for eight years.
• More coffee shops per square mile than anywhere else in the country by a factor of five. And that doesn’t include the ubiquitous Starbucks.
• On a clear day (I stumbled into that rarity when I arrived Thursday) you can see snow-capped mountains in every direction. Breathtaking views.
• The people have a creative sense of fashion that involves knit hats with ear flaps, and lots of middle-age and younger women have a Saturday wardrobe that includes wearing spandex pants. Not all of them should.

It's not sunny now. Just before the service started so did the hard rain. And wind. And cold. Brutal. Which made for a very short graveside. Driving to the airport was like driving in a thick fog because of the rain. I drove about 30 miles @ 20 mph because the weather jammed up traffic.

I'm going to head up toward my gate and read through my stuff for tomorrow morning. My goal is to stay awake until they board my flight. It would be really bad to sleep through that part of the trip. Once I'm on the plane I'm gone.