QUITE THE JOURNEY PART 3:
My father and Geraline were pretty calm when I first arrived in NC. But the heaviness of what had happened...its the kind of heaviness one can feel in the very air. People were coming by the house alot. There was alot of food. All the Parkers fried chicken I could eat. I guess this was making up for me not having eaten Parkers since I was probably in my early 20's. Parkers has a reputation for their fried chicken and barbecue. I also ate plenty of that during my visit because there was so much of it right there. Usually I avoid pork! There was cole slaw...hushpuppies....and sweet tea. There was banana pudding and all sorts of cakes. Folks brought us breakfast too.
Some people came by to pray with the family. It was truly heartwarming to see so many people concerned and stopping thru to spend time with Geraline. Making sure she was alright. I think folks just wanted to make sure she wasn't alone too much. I have never seen such an outpouring of love and support. My father has a pretty big family so I expected folks to be coming thru but Geralines family and church family really went above and beyond in looking out for her.
I'd promised my father I would go with him to view Crystal later during the week. I remember going with Louis to see his father many moons ago and it didn't really bother me. But they brought her by the house in a hearse one day and they never opened the coffin or anything but Dad for the most part held it together. I think he cried just alittle but maybe a day later when we actually went to see Crystal at the funeral home he and Geraline just lost it. I'd never seen my father cry but the pain of seeing his child there laying in that coffin was just too much. Something no parent should ever have to experience really. Crystal didn't even look like herself to me. But then again mostly no one ever seems to you know? I think the last time I'd actually seen Crystal alive was when she was in her mid teen years. Thats how long I'd been away from home. I know I need to do better than this. Dad did at one point in my trip say something about something like this shouldn't be the reason I come home. Its a wake up call to me that I need to work more on my family connections. People are getting older and time is just flying by. One thing that worries me alot these days is the fact I have a younger brother who barely knows me. He's around 27 now and I'm gonna have to put in some work to fix our relationship. Some of his life decisions worry me too so a trip to Florida sometime this year is on the top of my to do list.
-To be continued-
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