June 7, 2009 -- Oregon

Although we've pre-planned the funeral there are still a few decisions and tasks that need to be made. We had some difficulty with the death certificate. The local funeral home needed the Hospice Doctor to sign before they could make the travel arrangements for my dad. In Illinois the death certificate process is an electronic one. The funeral home enters data into the State's database then the doctor logs on and electronically signs the cert. Theoretically, it's a great way to do it. Unfortunately the system didn't update as quickly as we needed it to. After about 9 phone calls (Macy's in McMinnville, Jarvis in Chicago and Hospice) we finally got the cert signed and my dad a ticket to Oregon. He is leaving this morning at 09:51 - UAL # 605. That was flight my mom and I thought about taking -- I'm glad we didn't. I would not want to look outside and see a pine box being loaded onto the plane, knowing he was in there. I'm more concerned about flight 605 going down today, with my dad on board, than I have ever been about any other flight in the world.

My mom and I are leaving at 17:51 tonight - UAL # 949. We get back to PDX at 20:30 tonight. We are staying in town until Friday. Our flight is (my normal flight) at 13:05 - UAL # 464.

This week isn't very full of tasks, which is nice. My mom is getting a hair cut tomorrow (I will probably do the same), then at 3pm we need to meet with the funeral director and deliver my dad's clothes and discuss the final arrangements. I figured since we did all the pre-planning early on, they would just move forward with the plans we've already put in place -- don't keep asking me if we still want to do this.

Tuesday we have to meet at 3pm with the Chaplain, 4pm is the memorial service. The next day is the funeral in Portland. Why did I think Willamette National Cemetery was in Salem? Good thing I checked, or I'd be driving around missing the whole thing.

Some people have asked about the memorial and the funeral -- both are open to friends and family. My only hope is that people are respectful -- I'm hoping the extended family is nice. Friends are always welcome.

My other request -- my family doesn't know about this blog -- so if you do come, don't talk about the blog to family (especially my mom).