Joe's Life Celebration

Well for starters, Joe was definitely there. When we arrived at the club, we walked through the lobby, past throngs of well-wishers, and into the lady's room. And there was Gail! Remarkable because there were close to 200 people there so to have Gail all to ourselves for a few precious moments...well that's Joe at work, I swear. Every speaker spoke about what an incredible friend Joe was...how he loved his buddies and they loved him. So, of course, he would make sure that Gail was surrounded with her buds (and not just us!) on this important day.

I want to get one thing out of the way first, cuz it was a constant distraction...and that is Joe and Gail's darling, sweet granddaughters...Madison & Ashley. They wore identical dresses with big white bows in the back and they had the best time trying on women's sunglasses and running from one set of open arms to another. Good lord, they could not be cuter. All I could think of was Gail telling us that she overheard Joe telling Madison that she was the smartest, most beautiful girl in the whole world.

And another thing I have to get out of the way is this: who wears white jeans to their father-in-law's Life Celebration? The answer can remain unspoken. I'm just saying.....

Okay, now that the distractions are out of the way...

First things first. Gail looked absolutely stunning. Yes, stunning is the only word. The silver gladiator sandals worked beautifully with her slightly sparkly Missoni. Her makeup and hair were done perfectly and she even had purple nail polish on to match her dress! Joe must have been beaming with pride.

All the speakers had memorable things to say about Joe, who in Boston terms, was a f'n saint! The one who stands out most in my mind was Jim, Joe's law partner, who painted a wonderful portrait of Joe. He read excerpts from Joe's Ruffagrams sent over the years. So we got to hear Joe's actual words sharing stories about Gail painting the house to look 300 years old (am I missing something?), her golfing triumphs (What @$%...I didn't know she played in the U.S. Open!), her dear Buckwheat (who was not a rodent but Gail's little schnausser), and Freddie, the "real dog". The Ruffagrams showed us that Gail was the center of Joe's life just as much as he was hers.

Mike Neal emphasized that Joe was not without faults. Joe did not like to lose (fault or virtue?), he could not load a shotgun while running (big deal), and he liked vodka (what's wrong with that?). Aside from the latter, we did not know these things about Joe.

We also learned that these guys bet on their golf games. Joe stripped Bob Vaage clean more than once, graciously saying as he took his money...you'll get it all back sooner or later. But he never did. Behind his back, Joe was called the Quiet Killer. Well, who knew that?

Carol Wells said that Joe "was a class act" and others said he was a good judge of character. Choosing Gail is a testament to those things, no?

Oh my dears, there is so much more to be said, and so I will turn this over to you to add your thoughts.

LS