Uncle Ariel's Funeral

My dad and brother came up from Arizona for my dad's brother Ariel's funeral. Tinkerbell and I went with them. I'm glad I did for many reasons. They would have not made it to the graveside service if I hadn't taken over driving and figured out the map given to everyone.... My dad has demensia and needs to be led in what was expected at times.... I was the only one to interpret for my deaf brother so he wasn't so bored. My dad's memory is sooo out of whack these days. He told me stoies that mixed places and events from 4 different states and several time periods. I have quickly realized that it is not worth the argument to correct him and just let him remember things as his mind wants to remember them. About 1/2 of the siblings have been diagnosed with either dimentia or Alzheimer's disease while the other 1/2 seem to be "aging gracefully".

I really liked Uncle Ariel. He was in the army for 3 years building bridges. He served during the Battle of the Bulge. For info on this battle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge He was in charge of the first bridge to cross the Rhine river. He couldn't believe how the military is operated today. Men and women get sent out for 6 months to a year then get to go home. He said that back then you were sent out and were expected to stay there until either you died or the battle was over. No one knew how long the "journey" would last.

After he returned from the war he took up a job at a sign company. He made a large majority of the old Las Vegas flashy signs (Aladdin, Sahara etc...). He also made the first Micky Mouse at Disneyworld that stands on top of some building (I forgot which one). He also made signs for local movie theatres and restaurants. He LOVED his job. Other people paid for the materials and he got to create these amazing and beautiful things. He couldn't believe he got paid to do his job - he loved it that much.

He could build, tweak, or make just about anything that he or his family needed. I have fond memories of this tall man with a perma-grin on and a twinkle in his eye. Often times his family talked about his "hidden stash". Apparently he had a secret stash of goodies in the cellar that he thought no one knew about. It sounds like everyone knew about this stash but never told him they knew. LOL

He was 85 years old. They have 2 children and 2 great grandchildren. Their family never had much as far as "bling" but they sure have a TON of love and happy memories from over the years.

One of the funny comments made at the service was that Uncle Ariel will probably be most bummed by not being able to build anything in Heaven because probably everything that needs to be built has already been built.