The Beauty In Sadness

Image: Robert Jaffe Photography

An emotional Friday, and one I was glad to be finished with so I could get the weekend going and put it behind me. I was at the day job, as usual, in the morning, but at noon I grabbed a couple of baguettes for lunch and headed home to meet Gail. We freshened up, donned our best suits and headed to Warriston Crematorium.

Almost two weeks ago my wife’s friend, Samantha, walked into her father’s home to find he had passed. Several delays in the process, not least the Pope’s visit and a backlog in the Post Mortem process, meant yesterday was the earliest he could be laid to rest.

It was a good turn out, a lot of family and friends there for what was a lovely ceremony, one which didn’t dwell on the sadness of the occasion but managed to get across the joy of a life lived. Afterwards, we joined the family for a drink and small bite to eat at the nearby Victoria Hotel. It appeared that a few of Samantha’s friends equated me being a writer with being rich and famous. Interesting, and a real conversation killer.

Gail and I headed home mid-afternoon, and after some downtime—that inevitable period of unwinding after a funeral—I managed to get my head round the idea of doing some work, which before the funeral, hadn’t really been top of my agenda.

I worked on GREENER for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening on my Netbook while in the living room. I needed a change of scenery.

On the top side, the editorial board that short-listed one of my stories came back with a final decision. I’m delighted to say (and you have no idea just how delighted I am) that my short story, LETTING GO, will be in the October issue of Open Wide Magazine.

Today is all about writing! How much of that I will get done this evening what with the scheduled teenage sleepover in the next room along, I do not know. All I know is, I’ll have to make the best of today.

Today is also the last day of the deconstruction workshop on The League of Ordinary Gentleman. It’s been a most interesting week and I’m going to miss the daily lectures and having to go away and formulate a response.

Before I go, I thought I’d post some of the ridiculous images I took on my iPhone on Wednesday night:

http://static.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf

And if that wasn’t ebough, here’s an AudioBoo of the Group Captain reciting A Fly and a Flea in Finnegan’s Wake pub in Victoria Street on Wednesday night.

http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf

If you can’t play it, click here.

Until tomorrow, peace out!