Lone wolf (no more?)

*live, on location: Marble Falls, TX...

The funeral was this morning. Short, simple, and sweet grave side service with about 25-30 people. Nothing more can be said. Also, a simple viewing at the funeral home last night. Probably about 15 of us were there.

My eyes are opening wider to the closed universe of my side of the family. I have enjoyed all kinds of stories and conversations these past 2 days:

1) Meeting Grandaddy B's 3 siblings. One of these, my Great Aunt May, told me of my Great Grandfather, who died long before I was born. It sounds as though I received some of my technical, record keeping personality from him.

2) Reconnecting with one of my favorite Aunts from my childhood, my dad's sister. I've always had good memories of her and have disliked that we somehow grew apart these last 20 years or so. That distant relationship will be no more.

3) Meeting 2nd, and 3rd cousins I never heard of.

4) Receiving an open invitation from my other Great Aunt and Great Uncle to visit them in the Teague/Mexia area and to see the homestead of my late Great Grandmother.

5) Military appreciation: I have many friends both in real life and the blog world who are pro-military/war and anti. I've tried to refrain from being on a "side" as I try to understand the mentality, politics, and spirituality of both. I've also had some hidden shame of being the only person on both my father and mother's family with no military background. Great Grandfather: WWI. Grandfather: WWII. Dad: Viet Nam, had a great uncle on my mom's side who died in the Pearl Harbor attack, cousin served in Desert Storm, and another cousin who's been a Navy SEAL for 10 years. All that to say...I'm very cautious to not be critical of military and war being that my entire family is involved. Grandaddy B helped liberate a concentration camp in Manilla and I'm proud of him for that.

Supposedly there were family reunions all the time just before I was born. Somehow, the branch of my family that Grandaddy B headed had become closed off from the rest of the family over time. Understandably, he was hard-hearted and cold probably due to his hands on WWII dealings.

But he's now past on, and as far as I'm concerned, so are the distant family relations.