I'm just going to start at the beginning.
I was anticipating the memorial all day. I was nervous but excited, kind of like standing in line for a roller coaster.
Ok. So Erika gets ready at her house, and I get ready at mine.
I'm wearing a black suit with a light green shirt, and a tie that had hues of green and yellow in it. I'm also wearing 1 inch black glass plugs in my lobes, and a matching pair in 0g in my cartilage. After much debate, I decided to wear a long metal spike through my septum (nose). Erika is wearing a red strapless dress that comes down barely to her knee. Her hair is up all pretty-like, and she's wearing a gorgeous necklace that some handsome fellow (cough) bought for her.
I pick her up at her house, and we head to our friendly neighborhood Applebee's for an enjoyable steak dinner. It was hot inside, so I took off my suit jacket and rolled up my sleeves. Pretty soon, the place started to get packed... with Witnesses. Amongst the people there was this guy (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/104535/1.ashx) who I had some interesting dealings with in the past. We got a ton of looks, as we were laughing with the waitress, an old friend of Erika's, and generally enjoying ourselves.
So then, we finish the meal, and go get in the car. I'm so nervous, I'm shaking. What's going to happen? Will we be asked to leave? Will I get what I want from this? We drive to the hall. Driving in, of course, is a challenge, because there's a good deal of brothers out there with holy spirit powered flashlights trying to tell people where to park. I had the window down as we drove in, so several people saw me, and recognized me. We park. I sit in the car for a minute, and catch my breath, and collect my thoughts.
We get out, I throw my suit jacket on, and we walk inside.
Two little kids are on door duty, and they open the doors for us. I knew both the little kids, and they both knew better than to talk to me.
The second we're inside the door, its the welcoming committee. Some guy who I don't recognize throws his hand out. "Hi, I'm Newguy" I don't know why, but I just said "I'm disfellowshipped" (which I'm not), and he withdrew his hand like I was standing there holding a jar of SARS. We duck into the main auditorium.
My eyes scan the crowd, and I quickly find my grandmother. She's laughing with her friends. She looks good. My chest tightens.
There's open seats everywhere, in the middle of the rows of course, and I'm trying to figure what seats we can get in quick.
There's a presence to my left, and Erika tightens her grip on my hand. Its the brother who was chairman of my judicial committee.
"Hey there, the auditoriums pretty full, so we're sending everybody back to the second school. There's a tv in there, so you can see what's happening. If we get some seats in the auditorium open, we'll pull some people out of the second school."
I turn, and pull Erika along as we head to the back of the hall.
There's a pack of kids, my age, standing there blocking the path to the second school.
I hear a "WHOA!", and then the crowd parts, very red sea-esque, and allows us through.
We walk into the second school, and find some seats. We sit a couple of rows away from the TV, and I sit next to the wall.
I lean over and explain to Erika that it was pretty smart of him to shove us back there. Less of an audience.
Out of nowhere, a woman sits down next to Erika.
Its my mom.
"What's your name?"
"Erika"
"Taryn?"
"Erika"
"oh"
Then my mother puts her hand on my forearm. Its the first time we've been seen each other in almost a year.
She looks at Erika.
"This is my son"
My blood is boiling.
"I was your son."
"huh?"
She removes her hand.
"I was your son,"
"That was your choice."
Then she stands up and walks away.
Erika has tears in the corners of her eyes. She later told me that she felt my entire body tense up when my mother put her hand on my arm.
Then the brother who had sent us to the back pops his head in the second school. He announces that there's two seats available in the auditorium.
I poke Erika in the ribs, and we both jump up.
Then he ushers us into the auditorium.
"There's actually a couple of options... does it matter to you guys?"
I say "As long as they're in the non smoking section, we're fine."
He laughs.
We go to our seat, and as we do the down-the-aisle shuffle, I can hear bits and pieces of people's conversations.
We sit down. Erika does a quick 360 survey of what's around us.
"Honey, your mother is crying."
"good"
"I can't believe she was talking at us, not to us."
"I know".
Then I explain to her what parts of the stage I worked on during the hall remodel, and where I hid my initials in the studs of the wall.
Then the memorial starts.
The PO welcomes everyone, blah blah blah, and introduces the song.
I forget what its called, but damn it was it weird to hear.
The mother of the family in front of us turns around and offers a song book.
I shake my head no.
We stand for the song, and the prayer too.
Erika wraps her arms around me during the prayer.
Then we sit down.
The talk is boring. The elder giving it is young, and nervous. He states several things wrong. Jesus died 190 years ago. Today corresponds to Nisan 19th.
I'm amused.
Blah blah blah.
Then they give the mic to an older brother to pray over the bread. He's long winded as hell.
Then they pass the bread.
The attendants on either side of the aisle watch me fervently. I have a huge grin on my face when the tray hits Erika's hands. Everyone tenses up. I pass the bread.
Then the wine.
Another old fart on the prayer, and then its a big race to see who can move the wine the fastest.
Then we all get invited to the Special Talk, and we sing another song. Then we pray.
Erika grabs her purse, and says, "come on".
I don't disagree.
We fight our way through the crowd.
There's a sister sitting at the end of one of the aisles who has some serious problems. I used to always find her and give her a hug everytime she was at the meeting. We make eye contact, and I wink. She puts a big beaming smile on her face, and does a little wave.
Then we crack open the doors, and escape into the parking lot.
Naturally, the windows went down, and the music went up.
Then we drove away.