French Toast

I am sitting here at my desk eating delicious French toast with bacon and thinking of the day. I've been in low moods since the funeral last night and doing everything I can to buck up and move on.

The funeral was beautiful, albeit very LDS. I was asleep for a lot of it. I was able to sit with Margaret, my long time best friends Serena and Wayne's Mom, Stephanie and her husband Shawn and Grace. Their support was amazing.


I learned a lot about Raymond. I learned that he was just as kind and gentle with others and he was with us. The fact that I never heard a bad word from his mouth was supported by his speakers and other family members. To everyone, he was just Raymond, a sweet man. He was an accomplished photographer and his photos can be found on www.laughingfatman.com. I learned how much he loved hockey, especially the Grizzlies, and Q4U.

Stephanie almost took my breath away when she told of how Raymond drove to SUU to find her when she failed to call him when she arrived, as she promised. And her comments about him and us sitting in the garage brewing beer and talking and laughing brought tears to my eyes. I thought the roof would cave when she said beer, but it didn't. She's got some bawls, that one.

I lost it when a trio sang "Danny Boy" and when Stephanie's family friend played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes. And I laughed when stories were told about Raymond's trampoline (WWF wrestling with cousins, jumping off the roof, etc), jousting on the Graveyard shift using rolling chairs as shields and Raymond's crutches as jousts, and the love that everyone shared for such an amazing man.

I had been feeling so badly that I had lost touch during the worst days for him, that I couldn't be a comfort. But then I realized something. Raymond did something that hadn't been done in a very long time - he united a group of friends that had lost touch for more than 5 years. That is what Raymond would want - for us to continue keeping in touch to remember him the way he was, and to keep laughing.