Catching Up, III

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Today I transitioned, from family to friends. Over the weekend, my brother and his wife, two of my nieces and their significant others, my nephew, and two cousins were all in town for the memorial. They came from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and California. They flew in, and they drove. Some I'd seen recently, others not for years. Some stayed at hotels, some with me. It was fun, but also wearing. Family interactions can be intense, with archeological layers,

It's interesting to see certain patterns emerge. When we visited relatives when I was a child, my father was the family handyman. People saved their broken appliances and electrical problem for him: "This radio hasn't worked in years"; "Can you move this outlet?"; "This TV only picks up static." My brother and his wife just gave me an electronic weather station, with indoor and outdoor thermometers and some sort of sensor that offers a forecast. Today my brother labored away at finding a location for the outdoor temperature gauge, installing it (masonry or metal were the only surfaces available, and he had to make a couple of trips to my building's handyman for the right kind of nail), and then setting up the indoor monitor. So he's filled the Mr. Fix-It slot our father used to occupy. (Jack would not have wanted my brother climbing out of windows and hammering into walls to set up some device he, Jack, didn't see any need for.)

Niece R. filled the computer tech slot previously occupied by my brother, though he added input as well, as we tried to divine how to download Jack's old Sent mail into a new e-mail client I wanted to try out. Helpful, yes.

The transition happened when niece and boyfriend set off for home, and brother and wife will leave too early tomorrow for me to see them again. So I went off to meet GirlGriot for a writing date, where I am writing these Slices. Friends and family came together at the memorial, and now move off into their respective worlds.