Everything I Like Causes Cancer

This weekend was chock full of Really Fun Things To Do involving Phil's death like a 6 hour visitation on Friday night and an hour and a half Mass Saturday morning. Although I heard the Mass was pretty spectacular and reflected Phil's spirit, it was also very grueling, emotionally and physically. By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around we all needed a beer or 12.

The afternoon/evening/night showcased a whole lotta' bonding, hugging, laughing, crying, visiting with old friends, dancing, drinking, smoking, inappropriate touching and general mayhem, all of it sanctioned by his memory. At one point one of the Boston wives (Hi! Sorry I didn't meet you! You seemed really cool and fun!) told the bartender to clear out all of the tabs on her, which was a hugely generous thing to do considering the collective capacity of this group. About two hours later Scotty and Rob S. won $150 playing pulltabs and cleared out everyone's bar tabs again. We were jubilant and certain that Phil had arranged it, but it was a little freaky when the bartender announced that the tabs totaled $145.

At times I felt bad for the other patrons, like when the gang decided to sing along with the juke box to John Fogerty's Have You Ever Seen The Rain. It was loud, it was off key, and it was great. I caught the tail-end of it on video. Again, I apologize for drinking past my capacity to remember that I have to hold the camera a certain way when I video or else it comes out sideways here. I'll get it right one of these days.



It was a great day. Very cathartic. I was so tired I considered not going for about 20 seconds and then I realized that if I missed this I was going to be sorry. I'm so glad I came to my senses. We told stories and laughed and cried. At one point Wacker and I were sitting together reminiscing, I had gotten a little weepy, and he turns to me, very seriously, and says, "You know, I'm still pissed that we never did Adult Diaper Sunday." Everybody loves a Wacker.

You see, Thom used to live in this apartment over by The Framery in Soulard. It was where we congregated on Sundays. We'd all come dragging in, Alex would make some sort of breakfast from the groceries gathered by Wacker in his role as GSB (Grocery Store Bitch), and we'd lay around in our own filth all day watching TV, reading the paper, and making Boat Drinks! There were more lame-brained ideas hatched in that apartment than I can remember. And one was Adult Diaper Sunday, which is pretty self-explanatory.

Sadly, we did actually execute many of our other ideas, like the time we shaved Wacker's head but it was too white so we coated it in self-tanner. He ended up looking like he was wearing an orange beanie. And then there was the time we decided to rent a limo, got all dolled up, and went to see Lou Rawls at the casino. We did it, too. And rocked the house.

I really miss those days. Back then it didn't matter if we drank all day on Sunday; we could recover and most of us lived within four blocks of one another. Yup, this Saturday was great. It felt like the old days. It felt good. It felt like Phil was there.

Enjoy the pictures. Remember, click on the control once to activate it, and then again to navigate through the pictures.