I know, I know.. where the hell have I been - I have been very busy as a singer, writer, mom, wife and all around Goddess..and to be honest, the funeral life has been very sporadic. But yesterday, we had the old crew together - and man, did we put on a good show -uh - I mean funeral.I get a call from the Pastor and he said.. "The family has requested some Italian hymns, you know like the ones Ted used to do" (What he meant by used to do is that we have a new director of music. So since he has been there, Ted has not been around for funerals because the new guy (who is amazing!) has been playing them.) Soooo I say " ok, that is fine, my Italian is good" but then Father decides to call Ted anyway to see if he is free to do the funeral.. and he was (of course). I have not seen Ted in forever.. I think I needed time to prepare. ;)
Imagine if you will, I walk into the back of the church and there are the altar servers, now you are thinking, oh how sweet, high school kids - uh NO. The average age of the altar servers for a funeral is about 80. oh yeah.. these guys are the A team. They have been serving since Moses was alive!
So I walk in and there he is in all his splendor, talking a mile a minute about ... HIM... good to know that some things never change. We exchange pleasantries with the air kiss and hug - then he went off to get a coffee. (essential thing to have) Then Father comes in and is getting ready for mass- asking the altar servers if they have everything ready while he is holding something for the mass. (I totally started to laugh out loud) Father rolled his eyes and laughed - and said.. "yep, my A team."
Anywho, I think the highlight of my morning was listening to Ted - and as we know, he loves to talk about himself, sooo he was talking to Father about a mile a minute (they have been friends for years) both catching up on who was where, how different friends were doing and how Ted's mother was -(ok boys let's move this along.) Let's get back to the fact that Ted knew the Italian hymns (ok, he had the Italian Hymn book, I really need to get one of those!) - he was thrilled because, say it with me, it was all about HIM. So he got to sing them - so that meant I just got to sit there.. (this does not suck) But I love to watch him sing at the piano - I feel that there should be a big brandy snifter so we can put tips in.. seriously.
So, we are up to the homily - and so Ted goes into the back room and finds someone else to talk too - I think it was our Deacon. He just does not stop! At one point I had to tell him to quiet down, he was getting too loud, you know like really old people who don't have their hearing aides in! He said.. "ooh I didn't realize, and I don't want to hear it from Father! " I quietly laughed to myself.
The rest of the funeral went on as usual - we sang.. the three of us.. with our harmonies.. we really do rock. I mean .. sing a good funeral.
(no this is not Ted, I just love this pic!)
