A Gift


 

A gift arrived today: a shareable link to the photo memories that were shared prior to Dad's funeral mass. My Brother In Law, Chris Neubauer is quite possibly one of the most generous, patient and loving humans put on this Earth. Not that he had anything else going on in his life, career, etc. during the midst of all the pain and shock of Dad's passing, but he was "voluntold" to gather pictures for the purpose putting together a powerpoint to run before the service and, as he does, he outdid himself - he covered all bases, making sure things flowed appropriately, he had a backup and a backup for the backup (my Neubauer fan club members are nodding their heads, y'all know what we're working with, here).

He'd even enlisted some IT support from a colleague when things were a little out of his expertise the night before the funeral, but it was all sorted out and ready to go!

The night before the funeral, ever diligent, Chris decided to log back in once more and give the slides one more look...just to be sure. And of course that's when the computer crashed. I don't have all the details. I know we're not talking "blue screen of death" but it was not your average hiccup that is solved with a reboot either. Somewhere in between that definitely required late night IT support by way of a West Coast Colleague. 

All this is to say, there was truly a labor of love and a lot of lost sleep put into helping us craft a photo tribute for Dad and I'm reminded as I am so often over these 30 some years of him in my life that I was lucky to gain him and then, soon after, Marc Dykhuizen as big brothers. My sisters married well. Real well. 

Becky was the genius behind the song, Well Done by The Afters, that played on loop prior to the service. It's the fourth and final song in this version of the tribute. She thought the lyrics were the perfect message for our father and we couldn't have agreed more. 

Chris slid in a surprise, though, by adding three additional songs for this final version - the ones that Becky, Cathy and I each danced to with Dad at our weddings:

Becky - Through the Years, Kenny Rogers

Cathy - Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler

Carrie - Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion

Thank you, Chris, for being awesome and seeing this through. I know Dad is touched. 

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