[Magdalen] One down

[Jay Weigel]

Today was my Adam's funeral service in the church where he was baptized and
brought up and where he was an acolyte for many years. It was a most
amazing day, though a very hard one. We began receiving friends an hour
before the service and I was absoutely dumfounded by how many people showed
up. There were people I hadn't seen in years, some since he was a little
boy, some since his high school days, others I only knew from him talking
about them, some I didn't know at all. The Swamp Rats turned out in force,
minus only two who live some distance away, and even the other
local surviving Swamp Mom and Swamp Dad (different families). His buddies
from the Guard were there, even those who had drill this weekend and could
only beg off long enough to stop by and pay  their respects to the family.
One of my brothers was able to fly in from San Francisco. The flowers were
done by a friend who had known Adam since he was a teenager and had cut his
hair numerous times and done flowers for all family occasions. The service
was performed by a deacon who'd known him since he was a litte guy in
diapers. Lectors were old choir buddies of mine, and eulogies were given by
Betsy's husband and one of Adam's closest friends (and my other-son) who is
a career Army NCO. John touched on the sucide rate of Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans very effectively in his talk and I was grateful for that. It was
an incredibly hard but very beautiful day but I wish I didn't have to do
it. This whole business just sucks. Monday I have to bury my boy and
I'll have to leave him behind here in Tennessee when I go back to Virginia.
This is just WRONG.