Grandaddy’s funeral
Getting to the funeral
As I already wrote, my maternal grandfather passed away almost two weeks ago. His funeral was held last Thursday in Savannah, Georgia. Jen and I debated whether we’d all go down for it, or just me. The decision was a tough one, but we ultimately decided I would go alone. And, since I hate to fly if I can avoid it, I decided to drive down.
Aunt EA was very happy to hear this. Since Charlie was only 6 weeks old, she really didn’t want to put him on an airplane. So, we decided to drive down together. Then Aunt Caroline decided to fly from Chicago to Baltimore and ride down with us, though she’d fly back to Chicago directly from Savannah. Grams was already in Savannah (she’d flown down a week before Grandaddy died).
Our plan was to drive down Wednesday, go to the funeral Thursday, then drive back Friday hoping to get home before the forecasted snowstorm (more on that later). I was worried how well the drive down with an infant would go. I’ve driven with a screaming infant before, and it’s not fun. Also, it usually takes my family about 12 hours to drive, but I figured Charlie would slow us down a lot.
Boy was I wrong. Charlie slept almost the entire way, and when the baby is sleeping there is no stopping. We only stopped twice - once for lunch, and once for dinner. Charlie did stay up a bit at the end of the trip, and cried for the last few minutes, but that was nothing. We ended up making the trip in under 10 hours, which I’m not sure I’ve ever done.
The funeral
The funeral itself was very well done. I would have expected nothing less, given that the funeral home is the family business. It was held at the beautiful Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church in downtown Savannah (where my parents were married, and I was baptized). Afterward, there was a reception at the Oglethorpe Club (in lieu of a visitation the day before) for all the family and friends. And then the family went on to the graveside service. Grandaddy was buried next to Grandmother overlooking the water, just a few spots down from my dad. Many of us then headed back to Grandaddy’s house.
After the funeral
Our plan to drive back to Maryland Friday did not work out. The storm was worse, and came earlier, than I had hoped. So, we made the decision to stay in Savannah until after the storm. I felt bad leaving my family to weather a blizzard on their own, but it was not safe for us to try to return beforehand.
The positive side of staying in Savannah was getting to spend more time with family. Aunt Caroline’s flight back to Chicago was cancelled, so she stayed as well. Charlie was happy to hang out with his Aunt Caroline and his Great Uncle Carl.
Our adventure didn’t end there, but I think that’s enough of the story for today.
