2005-08-24 - 12:56 p.m.

The Pennsic XXXXIV Chronicles -- Part One

I had the best of intentions to post something yesterday at lunch time.

Alas, it was not to be.

But here I am and this is the first part of my Pennsic XXXIV Chronichles, so here we go.

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This particular Pennsic started on a sad note. On Friday, August 12, our friend Alan, otherwise known in the Society as S�ndor, passed away because of a series of strokes related to diabetes.

He was 48, and he was about to get married, his first wife having succumbed about 5 years ago of Lou Gherig's disease.

It is amazing how some people touch our lives and our hearts and we don�t even notice until it is too late.

We got to get together with his fiance� and her dad that Friday, not long after S�ndor passed away. She was still numb and we were still shocked at the suddenness of his death.

The drive to Pennsic was a sad affair. Sometimes tears will come out of your eyes even when you think that you are not going to cry anymore.

This would have been his first Pennsic.

At any rate, the folk from Ponte Alto were very responsive and supportive, and we ended up wearing black ribbons with an "S" scribed on it (thanks Perronelle!), and dedicated the war to his memory.

We are sure that although he could not be there with us physically, he accompanied us in spirit. And I am sure that he enjoyed himself very much, wherever he is.

Sunday after Pennsic we attended his Memorial at his home, which was organized by his fiance� and his sisters. It was a wonderful experience as, although my ex-husband No. 2 did convert to Judaism, this was the first time that I had attended Jewish funeral rites, and a sitting shiva.

There is something to be said about Jewish religious customs, they are very, very comforting. I was particularly impressed about the focus on life at funeral rites as well as the remembering the dead as they were in life. Thirty days from now there will be a celebration on Sandor's life, which is also part of the Jewish grievance process.

It is a wonderful thing.

I must admit that I have the utmost admiration for a religion that celebrates life in that manner -- and the one reason that I don't convert to that or any other religion is because I find it a lot more convenient to remain a very bad Catholic.

You see, being raised Catholic, it is simple for me to say "What? Heck no! I will consider following the Church's rulings on birth control only when the Pope gets pregnant!"

Of course, I can get away with that because it is my own religion, whereas if I were to convert to anything else I would feel the compulsion to become a good Jew, or good Unitarian Universalist, or Buddhist, or whatever, and that simply doesn't go with me.

But I still think that celebrating life in the Jewish way is the best way to honor someone's memory.

We miss you S�ndor, but you won't be gone as long as we remember you.

In Memoriam

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