colin witt

I began the day in des moines, iowa, at my hotel. I was in town to attend the funeral of colin witt, a classmate. it was great seeing all the people I got to see there, but I wish it was for a different reason. it was nice seeing a mutual friend there. this was my little league teammate. no surprise how we talked about baseball after the service. first time I had seen him in a while. we have both been through a lot. the funeral was at a catholic church in the beaverdale section of the capitol city. big crowd was there, proof of how he had plenty of friends. but he knew so many from being a judge. in fact, there weren't many seats left by the time I arrived, about 15 minutes before it began. so I was advised to sit in the choir section. some who arrived after me were left standing. I dropped a hymnal during the service, I can be a little clumsy. there was a little girl in the row in front of me, but she was being fussy so her mom left with her. memorable for me was the priest saying there were no good answers for why such a young man had died of cancer. after the service I also liked seeing my late classmate's wife, and one of his two sisters. the latter recalls attending a concert with me when we were much younger. I also liked seeing his dad. I said there were not a lot of classmates where I would be willing to drive from out of state to attend their funeral, but this was one of them. knowing colin is a reminder of reaching maturity. we were friends, then we weren't, then we were again. we both needed to grow up, and we did. I didn't stay in town for long after the luncheon. I looked around a little at merle hay mall and then it was on the road. while at the mall I got a call, it was an offer for a job interview. I am fine with it being Tuesday morning. I made a full stop a the casey's in clear lake, and one of the things I bought there was a small pack of baseball cards for a dollar. then there was another stop at a rest area near Northfield, to go to the bathroom. much like on the drive the previous day, I made good time once I got on the road.
  when I got back to the twin cities, it was early in the evening. I went to a fish fry at a church. then eventually I went out again to sing karaoke. I did 'wonderwall' by oasis. the lady that looked like a cast member from 'Rent' informed me in advance about what song she was doing.