The last couple of weeks have been eventful.
Our family has seen events sad and joyful, of beginnings and endings physical and metaphorical. My Dad’s youngest brother passed away, and my oldest child, Lindsey, graduated from college. Normally, either of these events would warrant an individual post. The strange juxtaposition of sadness and joy, and of beginning and ending, made me want to write about them together.
The Reid brothers, last summer. Don is on the right.
We said goodbye to my Uncle Don
Two weeks ago, my Uncle Don (my Dad’s youngest brother) died after a multi-year fight with melanoma. He was only 62; way too young. He got a couple of extra years from taking interleukin treatments – the side effects were pretty bad, from what my Dad tells me, but he got to spend more time with his wife Sarah, and his sons Donnie, Tim, and Charles (and their wives), and his grandchildren (Donnie’s). It must have been a terrible week for all of them, but it was really a chaotic week for Charles, who graduated from college, and got married in the week following his dad’s funeral. What a bittersweet week it must have been for him and his new wife. It will be unusual for them, I think, to celebrate their anniversary in years to come, and to remember the events that preceded their wedding.
My uncle was a Baptist minister, and he impacted the lives of a lot of people. He took part in hundreds of weddings, funerals, baptisms, and all the other activities that come under a minister’s purview. I got to hear him speak a couple of times over the years; he had a special gift in that area, and communicated in way that betrayed his own understanding of the peace and power of God. His funeral was held in a little church in Gordonsville, VA, about an hour west of Richmond. To the little funeral home in Gordonsville came hundreds of people. Don’s family and his brothers
Don and Sarah, and Donnie's family - at our Reid brothers' get-together last summer at Coles Point
(the three surviving of the five Reid boys) and their wives stood in a receiving line for over five hours to greet the folks who showed up there to pay their respects. The line stretched out of the door and around the building; some people waited for as much as two hours to get in. The funeral service, held at the Mechanicsville (didn’t get a chance to get the story behind the name) Baptist Church in Gordonsville, was similarly crowded: the funeral home folks set up tents outside the church, with speakers, so those that couldn’t fit inside the church could hear what was being said and sung. Several of his minister friends conducted the ceremony, and his son Tim spoke bravely and eloquently about what a special man his dad was.
It was fitting that Uncle Don was buried in the cemetery of the Mechanicsville church; he had served there for about two years, and those folks had taken him in to their church and their lives. For us humans, seeing a loved one’s mortal remains lowered into the ground brings a terrible sadness; for Christians there is comfort in knowing it is a beginning. The end, for Don, of pain, and the beginning of eternity in the presence of the Almighty. A lot of folks are going to miss him terribly.
My oldest child graduated from college
Lindsey, before the ceremony - not a great pic; taken with my iPhone
Lindsey graduated from Randolph-Macon college on May 29. It’s a cliche, of course, but those four years really flew by. She had a great time at Macon, and made lasting friendships. She swam all four years for the Jackets, and was a member of the school’s first (and so far only) ODAC swimming champions in 2007. She was a good student, too: her GPA was over 3.2.
The graduation ceremony was a lot of what you’d expect: pomp and circumstance, awarding of honorary degrees to special guests, a little too much talking from some speakers, and not too much from the commencement speaker, Dr. Ben Carson. He gave a great talk about the power of thinking big, and unapologetically assailed the destructive influence of political correctness. Finally, the big moment arrived, and about 200 seniors took that triumphant walk across the dais to receive their diploma. In assembly line fashion, they shake the hand of the university President, while simultaneously receiving that scroll that symbolizes four years of successful matriculation, then they proceed down the ramp, have a photograph (actually, two) snapped of them clutching their prized possession, then back to their seat to see the rest of the procession.
There were some things that were different about R-MC’s ceremony: a parent “sponsor” -in this case, my wife Debbie- accompanied a graduate throughout the ceremony. Debbie helped Lindsey with getting properly robed, then sat directly behind
Lindsey swimming butterfly
her during the ceremony. It was a great way to honor folks that had made a significant contribution to the graduates’ successful completion of their studies. Another interesting feature of the graduation festivities was lunch: they fed all the graduates, and as many of their families as cared to join them, in the Crenshaw Gymnasium. As soon as the ceremony was over, we (all 14 of us) made the short walk to the gym and were fed a nice lunch of pork barbeque sandwiches and all the trimmings.
We continued the celebrating at home with grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and a bunch of desserts. Later, we trekked out to the McKeel’s house in Crozier to honor Lindsey and Ashlyn (Lindsey’s friend from way back, a another 2010 R-MC graduate) with another group of folks. We had a good time talking and enjoying (more) desserts and snacks. It was a nice ending to an exciting and full day.
Within a week’s time, we experienced great sadness and great joy, beginnings and endings. It’s interesting, though – depending on how you look at them, both of these events were beginnings AND endings.
