a proper send-off

Had my grandfather's memorial service today, so we went out last night to hang with the fam and do the thing this morning.  (My mother is still there, but the rest of us have come away again.)  It was good -- a lot of people came, and the weepiness was actually minimal, because we've all been aware for so long that he was doing so badly that even we're really better off now that he's gone.

Baby cousins continue to be adorable, but not so much to be babies!  The older one will be six in a couple of weeks and is going into first grade, which is, like, completely not okay with me, and she's incredibly tall; by Christmas she'll probably be too big for me to pick up.  The younger is two and almost a half, and speaking in nearly complete sentences, even if the words themselves aren't always completely intelligible.  She sat on my lap during the service and was so good!  She only squirmed a couple of times, and when I told her the man (i.e. the minister) was talking about Grandpa, she kept still.  She stood on the pew next to me for most of the hymns, but for the last chorus of the second-last hymn and the whole of the last one she wanted me to pick her up, so my brother found the page for me and handed me the hymnal once I already had her on my hip.  (Aww.)

Older child, the night before, was talking to my brother and sister-in-law and me about my other cousin, her mother's sister:

kid:  I think a lot of people like Aunt B because she's a doctor.
me:  Do you think that's the only reason?
kid:  [nods]
me:  Well, I don't know.  I liked Aunt B before she was a doctor.
SIL:  And we like you.  Are you a doctor?
kid:  [grins and shakes her head]

[ded from cute]