Details

As I left the little chapel I etched the memory I never wanted and the memory I never wanted to lose in my brain.  How could such a vibrant, productive, handsome, loving young man leave us all to grieve for him at such an early age?  How were we all expected to move on with our lives when Geoff's had been stolen away so cruelly?  What powerful force of nature took the life out of my son?  These questions and a thousand more dug away at my consciousness.  There were so many things that had happened in order to arrive at this point that I did not understand or if I understood was not willing to accept.  Walking out that door and knowing that the coffin would be sealed behind me, never to be opened again compelled me to burn that final image of my son into my recall.  It wasn't Geoff any longer, I knew that, but since I understood nothing about the life force that had been my son and where it resided on this date it was all I had.

As I stepped through the doorway back into the foyer I found Luke, Melissa and Candi patiently waiting.  We rang the bell to alert Linda we were ready to leave.  She quickly stepped into the room with another woman who's very presence commanded attention.  She introduced herself as Patsy Healy and explained that she would be directing the service the following day and responsible for all details from our transportation to the church until we had been moved to the Pappas' home for the wake after the service.  She handed me her business card, which exclaimed her title as "General Manager" and welcomed me to contact her with any questions or to alert her of any difficulties, should they arise.  She asked about pallbearers; Melissa and Jo had arranged that.  She wanted to meet with the six young men before the service began and requested that we try to make sure that happened by pointing her out to Geoff's friends who were to act in that role.  She explained the methodology for removing Geoff's coffin from the church, that they would take him in feet first and would necessarily turn the coffin around for exiting the same way he entered, feet first.  Patsy needed a few minutes with the pallbearers before the service to rehearse that simple procedure, she reinforced.

Ms. Healy then inquired about the arrangements for music and assured us her folks were to be responsible for queuing the songs up at the appropriate times.  We let her know that Sister Mary would be available at the church for help with the sound system.  She further assured us that her staff would handle the remembrance book and hand out the booklets that Melissa and Jo had worked so hard to prepare.  We then discussed some other protocol issues having to do with our arrival at the church and the preferred method for seating those in attendance.  She let us know that a WN Bull car would first pick up Candi and me in Darlinghurst at Noon and proceed to Robin's to collect Robin, Melissa, Jo and Mag for the ride to Our Lady of Fatima with the goal to arrive a few minutes before the scheduled start of the service.  With that she bade us goodbye displaying the confident air of a journeyman surrounded by all the novices that we were.  As I walked out the doors of WN Bull I was comforted knowing that Patsy Healy, General Manager was going to be at Our Lady of Fatima the following day doing what she had so many times before and that which I had never.

Luke, Melissa, Candi and I then had lunch at the pub in the Marlborough Hotel a few steps away on King Street ordering our food at the bar and heading back to our tables with our table number attached to the metal stand that is the quintessential Aussie style .  After having our fill and some light conversation Luke headed off to work and Melissa drove the three of us back to Bexley North.  I sat down to Jo's laptop and started to type my eulogy that heretofore had been handwritten.  I wanted to be able to have the words printed in a font that was large enough to refer to without the use of my reading glasses.  At one point, Maggie saw that I was struggling with the task as I was still not comfortable with Mac technology having always been a PC user.  She volunteered to put the rest of my words into the document and ultimately we were able to print a copy I felt would serve the intended purpose.  Melissa and Jo left for the print shop to pick up the finished booklets.  Robin and Candi headed off to the shopping center to return the shoes Candi had purchased previously but were now replaced by the bargain she scored at Vinnie's in Paddington.

Jo and Melissa returned from the printers with the 100 copies of the booklet and proudly displayed their work to Mag and me.  Soon after, Robin and Candi reappeared with groceries needed for that evening's meal having successfully returned the too expensive shoes.  As we were all congratulating JoJo and Melissa on their fine work Robin somewhat reluctantly pointed out an oversight she saw in the printed booklets.  Although the address of the Pappas's home was prominently displayed on the back panel there was no acknowledgment as to the home's owner.  Robin felt that it was important that John and Victoria Pappas' names be included since they so graciously were providing their home and we discussed a number of options for making the change, including having stickers printed that could be overlayed on the finished pages.  Without doing a particularly good job of masking their disappointment, Melissa and Jo took off for the printer to see what could be accomplished to correct the booklets.  Candi and Robin moved into the kitchen to prepare dinner for this evening; Mag and I opened a bottle of wine while discussing the events of the day.

Melissa and Jo soon returned from the printer and let us know that the shop manager had agreed to reprint 100 booklets with the address correction rather than go with labels or some other fix.  We thought that was a good outcome on the chance we miscalculated the number we would distribute, surmising we could hand out the newest batch, first, and if we needed more than 100 we could use the inventory of those that were imperfect.  This most recent print job would be ready in the morning and Melissa believed she could pick them up and deliver them to the church in plenty of time.

Shirley Stanley joined us for dinner and we told stories and enjoyed each others company until it was obvious it was time for everyone to retire for the evening knowing we had a big day ahead of us.  We didn't speak at all about our trip to WN Bull earlier in the day except to confirm some of the details that Patsy Healy had reviewed with us.  We felt confident we had the agenda and each of our assignments under control.  Robin and Melissa once again made the round trip to Darlinghurst and deposited Candi and me at the townhouse.