"It's Gonna Be Great!" (part 2)

Tuesday was spent waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. ("Let the games begin..." -my dad)
Dave, JohnFromCanada (JFC), my dad, and I went to the Ecology Center where the "tree hugging squirrel kissers" (Dave's uncle's words) were making plans for the memorial service and wake (and by wake I mean party, but you should already know that dear readers). Apparently, Aunt Mary Beth was bigger than we had even known or imagined really. The whole town knew her. People around the country were calling. They shared the story of when I got arrested and Aunt Mary Beth came bursting into the office to tell everyone. ("She was so proud!")
The family came, everyone broke down simultaneously, and we all decided to go out to eat. It was a crazy, classic, Doyle dinner lacking only MB, but her spirit was there as we all drank too much, joked about dying, and shocked other diners with our complete lack of decorum. Everyone retired to the hotel where some drank more while I and the twins chucked oranges across the hotel pool. My family headed out with Dave to sleep on the farm again. Dave, a well-loved local musician in addition to being a damn good apple farmer, took out his guitar at 5am each morning and played and talked with my dad.
The next morning, Russ from up the road brought homemade pancake mix and bacon over and we shared breakfast with Dave, Russ, JFC, and Dave's Aunt Kay and Uncle John. The family completely adopted us despite our tree-hugging-ness. Dave's dog Lucky Dog ate a plate of pancakes as well. =) It was pouring rain when the twins and family came out to the farm to see the hill where Aunt MB's ashes would be buried, and everyone got soaked and sad. Then it was off to the memorial.
The Ecology Center put together slideshows and picture boards as well as a truly awesome descrition of her (I'll post the Ann Arbor local paper article soon). Then people started arriving.
And arriving and arriving. A line formed that snaked out the Unitarian church's doors. The room had a capacity of 300, and it was overflowing with people. I ended up being the first person in the program who spoke, and it was hard. Paul spoke later, and he said something to the effect of, "With something this absurd, you have to be careful that you don't vaporize." And he was right.