HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me start by wishing my friend Jenn a very Happy Birthday!

I am going to take a break from my MaMa stories today, to talk a little about this past week. I went to the funeral home in downtown Charleston Tuesday night for the visitation. Things like this are a nice way for people to come pay their respects to the person who has passed. Not only that, it’s a nice way for people to come show support for loved ones who have been left behind. And so we stood there and smiled and said hey and heard “I haven’t seen you since…” from people all night long. There was a lot of extended family there that we haven’t seen in a while. There were also friends of the family who came by. It was great seeing all of them. I’ve always liked my parents friends so seeing them was almost like seeing my own friends. But then my friends came in and I realized just how great they are. These are all busy people who, like most of us, are over-scheduled most days. Before I go on, let me say that I completely understand when people can’t make it to these things. So I’m not trying to make anyone who couldn’t make it feel bad. But it was great seeing them walk in. I don’t think any of them had ever met MaMa… but they came anyway to support me and The Wife (who also loved MaMa very much… and, truth be told, was loved by MaMa very much). They came and stood with me and talked. I don’t remember what was said (I’m sure there was the usual “I’m sorry for your loss” & “How are you doing?” type questions) but I remember us laughing. Sometimes in a situation like that, it’s not what your friends say that matters, it’s just that they are there. And mine were there. Like I said, I’m not sure if any of them had ever met MaMa, but she knew about them. There was my new very good friend Adrian and my personal banker Michael who talked me into floating down the mighty Edisto River (fyi… when I told MaMa I was going to float down the Edisto, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. I’ll never forget me telling her I was going to do it and her yelling “WHAT?!” It was the strongest I’d heard her voice in about a year!). There was my golfing buddy Dave who is also in my Bible Study group and his wife Shara. Two preachers that I mentor (Ross & Jenn) were also there. Of course Jeremy and Rebecca were there (if any of my friends had ever met MaMa, it would be them… but I’m not sure if they had or not). KC (the subject of one of my best papers EVER… and the subject of the paper I turned in for an ‘A’) was there with his wife LA. And my good friend Danny (future mayor of Summerville) was there with his wife Jen. Rumor was Danny left the Mayor of Summerville sitting in the car while he came in to talk to me. I never went out there to look, so I can neither confirm nor deny that this rumor is true. Meg, who I have to say looked thrilled to be around old people, was also there. I really hope I didn’t leave anyone out… if I did, I’ll make it up to them. I know others wanted to be there but couldn’t make it. But it was great seeing the people who were able to make it. Jeremy and Rebecca were even able to make it to the funeral. It was great going up to talk and looking out and seeing them.

Thursday was kind of hard. Depression kind of hit me pretty hard on Thursday and it was all I could do to fight it off. I went by my office to pick up some work to do and out of habit I called MaMa as I was leaving. That wasn’t fun. So I decided what I needed was to see some friends again. I sent out an email to a select few friends to see if they wanted to meet for lunch on Friday. I had a great time with Danny, KC, and Aubrey and it was just what I needed to feel good again. And since I feel good again, I won’t even mention a certain birthday girl who didn’t even reply to my invitation. :-)