At a loss for words (David)

OK. This blog stuff ain’t easy. You have to come up with stuff to write everyday. I got nothing, and upon reading my hung over post from yesterday, I didn’t have much then either.

I did hear a funny story last week from a friend of the family that I could retell here. My grandfather of 93 passed away and I went to RI for the funeral. This woman, let’s call her Debby, because, well, that’s her name, was telling us a story about when her father died many years ago.

It seems her dad was a lover of gambling and the kids decided to take his ashes to Vegas and spread them around the town. They would take handfuls of their father’s remains and toss them in the street, down an alley, in a park etc. Walking through the casinos they would scatter small amounts at the slots, at the tables, in the bathrooms. I thought this to be a very creative way to honor their Dad. Apparently that weekend they were raffling off a brand new car in the Hotel/Casino that they were staying at. The woman that I am calling Debby, because that’s what her parents named her when she was born, decided to enter the raffle. So she filled out the ticket and placed it in the envelope along with a handful of her dad’s remains for good luck. While her family was eating breakfast the next morning, she heard over the loudspeaker that the raffle will be starting in 20 minutes. In order to win the car you had to be present at the raffle. She rushed her family through breakfast telling them she had entered this raffle and that she had a really good feeling that she would win. They all followed her to the lobby where the car stood with this huge ball with all the entries in it.

The man started to spin the ball vigorously when all of a sudden a huge cloud of dust and ashes began to escape from the ball. The family looked at Debby with open mouths.

“You didn’t,” her brother said.

“I did,” she told him.

Nobody knew what was going on as the man continued to spin the ball and the sound of tiny bone chips clattered around the inside like a giant morocca.

Unfortunately they didn’t win the car but they were left with a great story to tell at funerals.

I hope it brought a smile to you all as you checked in on Sheila’s blog while she’s away. I’ll try to keep things somewhat worth your while. Tomorrow I’ll write about why Sheila is my friend and has been now for almost 20 years.