A whirlwind of emotions in a short time.

Last week/weekend was definitely a whirlwind of emotions for me to say the least. On Monday, I had my dental appointment and things are looking great. I did schedule to have all four of my wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday. Needless to say, I won’t be working that day and maybe even the day after. I was told that they’ll knock me out cold and I’ll need to have someone drive me home which will be A OK in my books. Later that night, I got a call from John and I knew right off the bat it was not going to be good news because the first thing he told me to do was to make sure I was sitting down. He then proceeded to share with me the news that Sr. Carola had died. He got a call from her niece telling him that she found her in her apartment. I guess she died from a massive heart attack. I was shocked beyond belief. We had planned on going to the Live at the Opera on Saturday afternoon to watch, Hamlet. All of us were looking forward to it. I had a tough time sleeping that night.

On Wednesday, Anna and I had dinner with a couple who belong to the young adults, but have not been able to make it to the dinners because they have a baby who is now close to five months old. She’s adorable and it was good to catch up with them. Olivia had grown a lot since the last time I saw her with Joe and Melissa carrying her to church. Carola’s visitation started at 4PM on Thursday. I went to the church right after work and at that time, there were few people which was nice because I got to speak to the family. We all shared stories about her, and how we both thought the world of each other. Evidently, around her circle of friends, they all knew me as the computer or technology guy because when it came to either, they knew I was the one she would call. She looked real peaceful when I saw her body and I definitely felt sad, but did OK. I lost it when I went up to Marilyn, her sister who told me that she was with Carola when she got our wedding present. It does not surprise me one bit that Carola had already gotten our wedding present. Marilyn also shared how much Carola just loved me and loved spending time with me. She said that Carola was exhilarated when she found out that Anna and I were engaged and that she was definitely looking forward to our wedding this summer. Needless to say, she’ll be there with all of us in spirit. Anna and I left at the same time, I had a young adults dinner to attend while she had to go to rehearsals.

Friday was really tough on me. I went into the office first before leaving with more than ample time to spare for the funeral Mass. I saved a seat for both Anna and Kristi. John did a beautiful job with the Mass and there were around twenty vested priests in attendance and no less than five priest sitting with the congregation. Carola would have been touched. The music was beautiful and all in all everything was immaculate. She touched many, many lives over the years and by looking at the people who were in attendance we all knew what a special person she was. A good number of sisters from her community came to the service and they too were sad and shocked by Carola’s death. After the funeral Mass, Kristi and I went to the cemetery for the site service. Anna had to go back to school after moving a number of classes around so she could go to the Mass. At the cemetery, while John was saying the prayers, a number of us could hear some birds chirping in the background and we all knew deep down that it was Carola. Once that service was done, I went back to the office because none of the administrative assistants were there that day so I needed to pinch hit for them. That night, Anna and I went to a murder mystery dinner put on by the drama students of her high school. It was a fundraiser for the drama program. I did not know if I was feeling up to it, but in the end, was glad I went. I laughed a lot and that was really what I needed. The students did a fine job and their teacher was more than proud of them. It dawned on me later that the reason why I was really hit by Carola’s death is because since I came to the US, this is by far the most significant death I’ve ever experienced and it hurt tremendously. Carola was a wonderful and giving individual, you can’t help but love her. I’m just honored that I got to know her on a personal level. She will be missed a whole lot.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day to say the least. Anna was not too pumped about going to the Opera so we ended up not going. We did get a bunch more of wedding stuff done which was cool. We also visited a friend of Anna’s who gave birth to a baby girl a couple of weeks ago. That night, we did go to the DM Symphony performance and it was a stellar performance. The music was outstanding and the soloist did a marvelous job. What a great way to enjoy the evening? Oh, I should also say that Carola was to join us at the symphony because we had a certificate for two free concerts and this was one of the free ones she chose. Someone from church who knows Carola well happens to play with the DM Symphony said that she will be dedicating the entire night’s performance in her honor. We met up with some friends at a bar close to home for a little night cap.

Anna and I were off to Minneapolis by 7:45AM to make sure we would be able to meet Arani and her husband, Abe for dim sum at 11AM. The dim sum was good and I’m glad I got to take care of my cravings! Anna and I invited Arani and Abe to the wedding and it’ll be great if they make it. After Dim Sum, we met up with Heidi and Mark at Costco because they needed to get more baby wipes for Mikey. Boy, it’s been a long time since I saw him and boy, has he grown. He’s definitely a lot more active now and has his own personality. It was a blast just spending time with him. I got to hold him for a period of time and he’s just a cute baby. I can see why Anna wants to spend as much with him as possible. We pretty much hung around the house just letting Mikey entertain us before Anna and I headed to St. Paul for the concert. I wanted to make sure we were downtown with more than enough time to spare. We had a good two hours to spare and had dinner at an Italian restaurant within walking distance to the arena where the concert was going to take place. The opening act, Naturally 7 was amazing. They are what Anna called a contemporary Acappella group specializing in Vocal Play. That basically means they use their voices to make sounds like someone is playing an instrument. Trust me, they were out of this world. They had a concert in Ames not too long ago, but we could not make it. A couple of people we knew made it to the concert and just raved about them. I’m glad we got to see them live. What a way to get the crowd warmed up!

What can I saw about Michael Buble? Well, he’s definitely an amazing artist and has a voice that is unbelievable. He’s also an entertainer who knows how to please the crowd. Everyone who was there had a great time and he had a great rapport with the audience. All in all, I will say that this is definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. We both had a great time singing along and just enjoying the time at the concert. What a way to end the weekend in my books!