It Was Shall We Say…A Yellow Day

The skies were blue, the sun was shining, and a soft breeze filled the day.

This celebration was at the home of one of Jim’s sisters. A beautiful old Tudor, on a hill, and surrounded by a variety of mature shade trees. As I sat in a beautiful floral-covered chair under one of those stately trees, at short intervals folks were walking up the driveway. Most brought lawn chairs…many brought a dish to pass…lots of ice and coolers, babies and toddlers…and most wore yellow. The driveway and the yard was dotted with bouquets of yellow balloons…you didn’t need the address to find this house. You just looked for yellow.

Yellow was Jim’s favorite color. This gathering of family and friends from near and far, came to celebrate the life that was taken from us on May 31, 2020.

As I sat and listened to the chatter, watched kids laughing and playing made-up games, babies giggling or fussing, the distractions made no difference to anyone. Friends or not…this was a family.

Soon it was time to eat and in short bursts adults and children walked up the brick stairs to the house, got in line, still chatting, and waited for their turn at the amazing buffet that was contributed to by all. On the dining room table was a vase of yellow flowers, a bowl of lemons and yellow peppers, a candy dish with lemon drops, and other treats of yellow. The kids found this treat table in no time at all.

While everyone was enjoying the feast, as with all large gatherings, it got quiet. Soon things picked up again after tummies were full. Children running and laughing, babies cooing, and new small groups of folks starting up new conversations.

Shortly after dinner, there was a gathering in the make-shift theatre to watch a presentation of Jim’s life on a big screen. There were tears before the presentation started. Everyone knew it was time to see a tribute to Jim’s life and we didn’t want to see it on the screen. We wanted Jim there to make us laugh, to tease the kids, to hug loved ones, and to take the pain of this loss away.

What do we take away from an afternoon like this? We take the new stories and jokes we heard that day. We take the new memories we made while recognizing and honoring one hell of a nice guy that is so painfully missed among us.

Jim would have really liked this party…