Not ready yet

Jack's memorial service is tomorrow. I will have to get time off of work to take Trevor & Diana. Lee will stay home with Connor - that's not something Connor would be able to manage very well. Not so much because he misses Jack, but all the emotion would be hard for him to handle.

Jack's parents opted to have a viewing yesterday & today so people could pay their respects. I offered to take Trevor & Diana, if they felt they needed to do that. Neither of them wants to remember Jack that way, though. They are still coping with the whole idea, but that's not the way they want to bring closure to it.

Because we were quoted in the paper, another mom called me to talk about the whole thing. Her son was Jack's best friend in Kindergarten to 4th grade (about when Diana stepped in, actually), and they'd kept contact. She found out by hearing a local talk radio host blasting parents for letting their kids play in the river. This was the very next morning. Anyway, because she'd moved to a town close by, no one knew Jack, and she needed to talk. So we talked a good hour or so. She wanted to do something, but other than dropping off food, I said I wasn't planning on getting in their way right now. She said when she'd lost her dad, there was all this support for the first few weeks, and then suddenly everyone went back to their lives and she felt left all alone. I said that's when we need to step in then.

The obituary in the paper also named the son they'd lost previously. I had seen a photo of him at their house in the past, and thought maybe he was a cousin or something, but Jack's mom had told me that was their son who had died. She didn't go any further than that, and I didn't ask. I expect everything they went through losing Kyle has resurfaced now with Jack. I just can't even comprehend what they are dealing with right now.

Diana & Trevor will try to prepare for the Memorial tomorrow by writing down their memories of Jack. Most are funny and make you laugh. Both Trevor & Diana are doing a bit better now than earlier in the week, although they have tried to keep busy and not think too hard on it. Tomorrow at the memorial, I just expect to see a lot of tears.

Lee gets to work off his emotion by ripping up the bathroom floor today. He & Pop are installing our shower & sink/vanity today.

I have to go to work & see if our classroom is ready to clean up yet. There was construction done over the summer, and when we went in on Tuesday, there were still pipes & the toilets on the floor in our kitchen area - not ready to be cleaned yet. They were waiting on permits for electrical & plumbing. I have no clue what we're supposed to do with our medically fragile kids on Tuesday next week if our room isn't ready!