Quite a Weekend / Quite a Day

This weekend has been quite draining, both physically and emotionally. It was homecoming at CMU, my charming alma mater, and Saturday (with the parade and the game) was enveloped by a constant downpour. But, the team won (its first win of the season and I'm guessing the first homecoming win for a while). And, because of the new fake-turf field, they didn't get mud on their uniforms despite the torrents. The day concluded with time spent staying up too late with old friends and good conversation.

Then came today, which was full of solemnity and joy and wonder and wonderfulness and pain and exuberance and excellence.

Today was the day of the memorial service for RPD, the choral director at CMU. It was an amazing service, held on campus at Linn Memorial UMC where his choirs had sung for the 26 years he taught and directed. It was a unique situation -- when a lawyer dies, people get up and say "he was a nice guy, and he did good lawyering." When a preacher dies, people get up and say "he was a nice guy, and he touched a lot of lives." But when a choral director dies, people get up and say "he was a nice guy," then everyone in the room stands up and illustrates how the decedent changed them by joining their voices -- if not perfectly, then at least joyfully. The choirs that sang, that had been led by RPD until the second week of this semester, sounded beautiful (even singing music he had written), but so did the congregation singing wonderful hymns including "Come O Thou Traveller Unknown." That's one of my favorites and if you want to know why, I'll tell you sometime. Several people gave remembrances, but the message was given by Linn's pastor, and former RPD student, Icky. He was also one of my very best friends at CMU and we shared the burden of bad nicknames. The service ended with a beautiful reading of a Robert Burns poem, and the congregation following a bagpiper out of the sanctuary to a reception across campus.

While there, I had a nice conversation with husband of CMU's president who pointed out that this gathering was really a symbol of what RPD had worked very hard to achieve. "We don't have a lot of CEOs," he said, "but we have a whole lot of people who go out and change the lives of others." Very true. (And very humbling for me to realize that I go out and change the lives of others by garnishing their wages.)

At the reception, the Beta Mu chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, as well as all the Sinfonia alumni present (maybe as many as 50) sang an elegiac hymn in RPD's honor, and everyone sang the alma mater to which he'd written the music. Afterwards, the Sinfonians moved under the clock tower central to the campus and sang for a long time. I don't think I've ever seen that many men singing there before. It was amazing.

Homecoming notwithstanding, that was the real reunion for me. Because of Mom's place in the college, I always ran with the music folks (and that's also how Tracy and I fell in together). And folks from all ages came back to celebrate a life well-lived, and to do so by using some of the skills he had given us.

After coming home, I called my Mom to make sure she was doing okay, and I think she really was. I also had good KC friends drop by for just the briefest moment, but it was good to see them.

The weekend has been full, and now I am off to rest.