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| Koclanes extended family |
Last week I headed up to Chicago for the funeral of my Great Aunt Catherine. I flew up Tuesday and arrived in time to attend a couple of hours of the wake which was conveniently taking place near O'Hare airport. The funeral service was Wednesday at the old family Greek Orthodox church on Austin Blvd and the internment in the Koclanes plot at the Elmwood Cemetery. Catherine was laid to rest with her parents, sister Stella, and brothers Cookie, Nick, Chris and Solon. I served as a pall bearer along with my cousin Nick and my Cousin Cathy's husband Dave (who was a personal favorite of Aunt Catherine). Also serving were three friends of Catherine's son Chuck; Al, John and Bobby. The weather threatened rain but we avoided the wet stuff which was fortunate as it was quite cold (later in the day there were snow flurries). We had a great family lunch afterward and all shared our recollections of Aunt Catherine.
My Mom had flown in from Seattle and Wednesday evening I drove her over to Midway airport to get on a plane home. My return flight would not be until Sunday because the cost of going home before then more than doubled the price of my ticket. I took advantage of the extra time to stay with my sister Johanna and meet my God Son Zach and see my nephew Nicholas whom I hadn't seen in almost two years. Nicholas and I went to the children's museum together and on Saturday night I baby sat both boys while Jo and her husband celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. In between I got to catch a Bulls game (see photo below) and have lunch on Saturday with Aunt Mary and visit with my Uncle Hank who is the last surviving member of that generation of the Spetters that included my Grandma Rita (Hank is her baby brother).
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| After the Bulls 99-96 win over Memphis |
While the circumstances of going were unfortunate, it was good to catch up with a lot of family I hadn't seen in several years as well as meet for the first time my God Son. Yesterday was a long day of travel home and looked like it might be even longer when my Miami to Grand Cayman flight was cancelled by American Airlines due to fuel issues in Miami after a fire at that airport last Wednesday. Luckily, they re booked me on Cayman Airways and I made it home about two hours later than I would have if all had gone as scheduled. Not having seen Arianna and Katie in six days I was very happy to open that door and see them again.
