[Magdalen] One down

[Ann Markle]

Jay, reading this brought me to teary-eyed gratitude.  I'm so glad it all
went well.  I'm so glad you had some of those holy moments that we only
notice when things are TERRIBLE.  You've been in my thoughts and prayers,
and today before I got to this post, I was wondering how you were doing.
I'm just so sorry.  I've said "so" a lot in this note, but I feel very
emotional about and for you, as you might imagine.  Welcome to the club,
sister -- that club that nobody wants to be a member of.

Love,

Ann

The Rev. Ann Markle
Buffalo, NY
ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
blog:  www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com

On Sat, Jan 9, 2016 at 10:59 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
>