Steve had to work at the bank all morning so it was just Sophia, Taylor and I who went to the funeral. He was only 26 years old and his death was sudden and very unexpected. He was Sophia's bio dad's brother. We went more for the family than from any close connection to him. Sophia's half siblings lived with him most of their lives. They are being raised by their grandma and an adult aunt and another uncle also live there. This uncle, Harold, lived at home until last year when he moved to Sioux Falls.
Sophia's grandma and aunt were surprised but very grateful that we came to the visitation/funeral. I knew it was going to be interesting when the entire Geek Squad in their Geek squad vehicles pulled into the parking lot. Then I spend some time visiting with Sophia's siblings' mom, who I had never met. She and Sophia's mom lived under the same roof with the kids' dad for a while before Sophia was born. It was an interesting situation, to say the least.
This is Davey, Sophia and Allison.
It was definitely not typical funeral. It was held at the funeral home and the first song/video they played for the funeral was something about "Demons". From a full Catholic mass funeral last week to this tested my ability interact in different worlds. You'd think I'd have plenty of practice by now.
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On a good note, our new bed finally came yesterday afternoon!
I guess I'll have to learn to share the blankets again ;)
Next project is to re-stain the book shelf and side shelves we made so that they match the bed.
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Fast-forward to evening. Steve was going to work at the Swiftel Center for motocross. Riley wanted to get his last two Christmas gifts for his siblings so I thought I could run him to Walmart, grab the special supper I promised him and be back before too long. Brittney was home to watch the other kids for a few minutes in case it took longer than I anticipated.
So we went shopping. Since it was just the two of us, we wandered around more than usual. If there was something Riley wanted to look at, we looked. With lots of kids, that's not something we can usually do. Riley eventually purchased what he needed and we went back out to the van. Unfortunately, we went out the wrong door so we had to journey across the entire parking lot. When we finally got to our van and I reached into my pocket for my keys, I couldn't find them.
I searched my pockets, my purse, in the van, under the van. No luck! So we back-tracked through the parking lot, searching the ground for keys. No luck! We went back into Walmart and retraced our steps. If you want some fun times, try it. Go shopping all over the store, then try to remember exactly where you went and in what order. It's kinda like a big game of memory. However, I don't recommend losing your keys first. You can leave that part out. Anyway, no luck!
Then we checked at the service desk. No luck! You'd be surprised how many people have lost their keys. They had an entire drawer full. Unfortunately, none belonged to my van. They don't really have any great policy for lost keys either. They basically just dump them in the drawer if they're turned in. Nothing about when or where they were found. They probably have some in there from a year ago.
By now Riley is starving. I gave him the choice of eating at the subway in Walmart or walking the mile to his original choice of Guadalajara's. He wanted Mexican. So off we walked. It was cold but not unbearable. On the way, he suggested we call the police. When I asked him why, he merely responded with, "You're supposed to call the police when you need help." I told him we'd try Grandma Sandy first.
But when I called her, she was an hour away in Watertown. So I called my sister. While we waited for her, Riley and I ate and then went shopping/looking at Dunam's, the local sporting goods store. Even though we were both really tired, we made the best of it. When we got bored, we created our own little game of mini golf in their golfing section. We challenged each other with all kinds of weird combinations of shots and used various clubs. The employees were too busy chatting by the registers to even notice us! Another fun recommendation for a cheap and easy way to spend time without spending money. But again, I'd try it when you decide to, not when you have to because you don't have your keys and have no other option.
When my sister came, she drove us back to Walmart because she had some shopping to do. I checked at the service desk for my keys a second time. Again, no luck! By then, Sandy was back in town and she stopped by Walmart and picked us up and took us home. Meanwhile, I had already received two calls from Brittney asking when we'd be back and I could hear loud arguing and fighting in the background.
To make matters even more complicated, when we bought this van last year, it only came with one key. I had another generically made but it only unlocked the door. It doesn't start the van. So we are currently pretty much out of luck until/if they find the keys at Walmart.
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On another good note, the kids had fun wrapping the presents they purchased for each other.
