I got up earlier than I really needed to this morning for my shower, and then went down for breakfast by myself. since Julie had already brought food back to the room, and my parents weren’t awake yet. I went down again with my parents once they were ready, and by the time they finished up, it was time to head to the church.
We made it to the St. Michael Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church, which had the longest name of any church I’ve ever seen, to meet up with the other pallbearers before the service. There weren’t a ton of people there, but it was nice to see so much of Thea’s family show up. We didn’t really speak to any of them, but later we talked with the cousins about how family is such an important part of Asian culture.
The service itself felt long, partially because we spent much of it standing while the priest melodically spoke or sang the prayers repeatedly. It was an interesting experience, and then John gave a great eulogy at the end. The burial was short, and then we returned to the church for the reception luncheon. Thomas came to sit with us briefly, and I think that was the most I had ever talked to him in my entire life. I was really happy that we could start closing the gap between all of the cousins.
After the reception, we headed back to the hotel for a while. Julie really wanted a Chicago-style pizza, but just as she and Dad were deciding where to find one, Tom called and invited us all back to his place for the evening. We ended up taking pizza with us, and we ate and socialized for a few hours. It really was a good time, and seemed much less stressful than yesterday as everyone was still kind of waiting to get everything done. I learned that Angela was into pottery, and I showed her Suzanne’s Instagram. I brought my Steam Deck to show Brandan and John, discovered that Nicolle knew Shang Tsung, and then had a laugh at my laundry routine.
We tried coming up with plans for the next day, but nobody committed to anything. We ended up leaving late and getting back to the hotel, where everyone promptly went to bed after a long day.
One’a thems.