Bob's Celebration of Life

May 11th would've been Bob's birthday.  He said he did not want to have a funeral - he wanted to have a party.  Honestly, I think this is the way to go.  We had a really great weekend in remembrance of him.  There were a lot of laughs in the house all weekend.

Friday, preparations were being made and family started to come into town.  Rose Marie made some baklava and her sister brought some home-grown stuffed grape leaves.  There was a bunch of other food too, but these Greek favorites were the hit of the evening. 

Saturday was all about cooking and doing more prep-work.  Food.  Flowers.  Rearranging furniture.   Working on the tent.  And, setting up the life-sized cut-out of Bob!  Todd's brother, Bobby, works in the printing industry.  He was able to get a copy of the negative (which was taken at Bob & Rose Marie's 40th anniversary party).  He enlarged and had it cut-out.  These two women (Rose Marie's sister, Nin, and her friend Ruby) were the ones he was originally dancing with - so they got in on the pose again.


Lots of people posed in front of Bob's likeness. 









Cousin


















Cousins

Niece & Nephews.

Actually lots of the guests saddled up for a pose.  These two photos show most of the family that was in town.   

There was a video of photos scrolling on a TV that people could stop and watch.   Todd's brothers and sister said a few words and told some funny stories about their dad.  Isabella decided to wander into the spotlight for awhile too.

We met Bob's sister and niece that we had not met before.









We got to spend a bit of time with Rose Marie's sisters.

We saw a bunch of family friends that we had not seen since our wedding.

And - a bunch of the family got to meet Isabella for the first time.  (Aunt Becki who is in this photo, of course, has met her before.... but the dozens of cousins there had not -- only seen her through pictures.)

Mercer had his cousins to play with & wrestle with before and after the party which made him happy... but they were tied up during the "celebration" ceremony. He was really happy when these two boys showed up and they played football in the back yard!







Here's a nice shot of Rose Marie with Todd's nephew Nate and niece Marley. 

... and some more shots from the party as well as a couple of photos from the morning after when the cousins came back over, bringing bagels and coffee.

  
















All-in-all, it was a terrific weekend.  I don't know that anyone shed any tears.  A few times, people got choked up when speaking about Bob, but - again - this was a much happier celebration of his life.  Great stories.  Great memories of a man who will be greatly missed!