Balance of Power Shifted Read Online Free PDF Page A

burial arrangements.  Thank God, my grandparents were so organized, I thought to myself.  They listed the funeral home to use, Father Zults the priest at St. Anne’s church that they preferred as well as coffin models and location of the cemetery plots.  They even included headstone inscriptions and charitable organizations for donation offered in lieu of flowers.  I was cleaning up the notes I captured, when Julius said, “Mike, I hope you understand that your grandparents made you the sole heir and executor for their estate.  I will go over what this means tomorrow if you can come into my office around one in the afternoon.  I will meet you there after church services.  You need to jump on the funeral arrangements as soon as possible so I thought it was important to at least pass this information along to you.”
    The rest of the afternoon and well into the night , everyone chipped in to help me make calls and to do the things on the list needing completion.  A few pizzas and a good amount of beer and wine helped smooth this effort along.  The funeral home arrangements came together quickly. Mr. Druey, the funeral director, was very good at his job and with the information that Julius gave me he had what he needed in about 20-minutes.  He would arrange to recover the bodies from the morgue and let me know whether an open casket was possible or not.  In the meantime, he asked me to collect clothes that I thought would be appropriate for burial as well as any mementos or jewelry for placement in the coffins.  He also recommended getting an obituary notice into the newspaper as soon as possible and included the viewing arrangements that we had agreed upon, which were this Wednesday from 7 pm until 9 pm.  He also suggested bringing any pictures that I wanted to show in order to depict their life together.  I gave him my email address so I could confirm our discussion and approve the itemized list of services.
    Hanging up with Mr. Druey I asked if Fiona and her mom if they minded figuring out the clothes problem, since I really had no idea what was expected.  In reality, the thought of selecting clothes that a dead person would wear into eternity really freaked me out more than I would admit to anyone.  I glanced over at Taylor and Kristen who were sitting at the kitchen table, shoulder to shoulder. Taylor having lived next door forever would be able to help pick out pictures that could represent Nana and Gramps life together.  A little sarcastically to myself, I thought, how can anyone’s impact on life or the people around them, be shown through a few fleeting snapshots.  Taylor and Kristen are a great couple and every time I see them, they just seemed to be so in tune with each other.  Kristen and I shared a little secret we never told anyone.  We had a few dates during high school at a time went Fiona and I were not together and Kristen had not yet met Taylor.  We had a lot of fun, fooled around some, until we both had realized that we had connected more on a friend level than in a boyfriend and girlfriend way.  In fact, I was the one that introduced Taylor to her during a pick-up basketball game, with friends from school, behind my garage.
    “Hey Taylor”, I said.  “Can you and Krist en help me out on something?”  They both said yes in unison and I asked them to follow me back to the office.  Once there I showed them a couple of shelves built into the wall that held quite a few photo albums.  “Guys, I’m not sure I am up to looking through these albums for pictures that I can put on display at the funeral home for the wake.  I am certain that I would start bawling like a baby if I had to.  Can you go through the albums and pull some pictures out?  Maybe start with their wedding, pictures with my mom, mom and dad and all three of us...  feel free to add others that give everyone an idea how special they were.”  Kristen came over and putting her arm around my shoulders said no