So here's the short of it,
Today we planned Dad's funeral.

And here's the long

This afternoon Dr. Carver, the minister, met with Mom, Russ, Steve, Alan and me to discuss plans for the funeral service at the church.  Mom was very clear that she wants the service to be a worship service and a celebration of Dad's life. 

Much of the time with Dr. Carver, we three children told stories of our Dad so that he could have a sense of who Dad was.  So we had another afternoon of stories and tears and some laughter.  Steve told the story of the time he and I were quarreling in the kitchen and Mom couldn't get us to stop.  When she told Dad that he needed to help get us under control, he said he'd just go cut a switch.  That scared us both to death because Dad never hit his children.  A few minutes later Steve and I saw him emerge from the woods with a sapling about the diameter of his wrist and about ten feet tall  -  he was waving it furiously at us.   I think we quit fighting.  I know it was a very effective way to get us to pay attention to how silly we were behaving.

None of us kids have any bad memories of our Dad.  He was a strong, just, and loving father who had patience beyond end and loved his wife, children, and grandchildren fiercely.  He delighted in his 3 great-grandchildren and to the very end news and pictures of them would light up his eyes.

The military portion of the service at the National Cemetery is already prescribed.  Dad told me one time after we had been to the Cemetery for a Veteran's Day Celebration, that he had a real sense of peace about being buried there amongst his fellow veterans. 

I've run a tad of fever today and have had a nagging cough.  I have a herceptin treatment tomorrow, so I'll try to find out what's going on when I go for that.  I imagine I've just not rested enough and tried to pack too much into these last couple of days.