The Poisoned Ink Well

Wednesday, September 17, 2003


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Rest In Peace


I feel very pensive right now. A death anniversary passed and I didn’t realize until yesterday that it had come and gone. Rick died September the 14 almost ten years ago and I didn’t remember until I heard the Saliva song Rest in Pieces, because it reminds me of him. He was cremated in California and his mother and brother transported the ashes back via airplane and his Mom took some ashes out and holds on to them like they’re the most valuable possessions she has; the rest of him was buried, and now every time I hear that song, it reminds me of him resting in separate places.

I started observing death anniversaries because my oldest and favorite brother died the day after Thanksgiving and that made it hard for us to forget the time of his passing, and then my father died just about two weeks before Christmas. We had poinsettias instead of roses at his funeral and my family (what is left of it) is always a little blue around the holidays. I never started this time of mourning and remembrance until least November and then Rick had to go die in September, so now it starts earlier. No one in my life dies in the spring or the summer; its always the fall or winter.

(In case you think that I am a total drag, just remember that my father was 100% Irish and I grew up in Louisiana where we have jazz funerals. I intend to make khalua, again this year even though I quit drinking. Want some?)

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