Robert Fredreck Kreb's (Uncle Bob's) Memorial

My Uncle Bob died at the end of July, quite unexpectedly.  He had a somewhat tragic life...he was a young man full of promise as a gifted musician and gymnast.  He became schizophrenic in his very early 20's...who knows quite why...perhaps the combination of the stress of the Vietnam war, his best friend's brother killed in Vietnam, the drug life the 60's was "famous" for, or some other traumatic event that occurred during some of his travels.  I never knew that Bob.  I knew the Bob from my childhood whose schizophrenia led to violent episodes that I witnessed and then the Bob who had stabilized but was not the easiest person to be around due to his difficulty in social situations and some of the unusual behaviors and ideas caused by his mental disease.  I think I can say for all of my family members...we could have loved just a little better, been a little more patient, a little more grace giving, a little more compassionate.  But Bob was Bob and Bob was family and we loved and accepted him...I knew him through the memories of those who knew him back when and through my own 40 years of life with him ever present at family events and gatherings.  

Sometimes, I wish I could go back to the times when I was a child, when innocence defined family holidays, when adult situations were left to the adults, when family gatherings were nothing but fun and excitement...before people were "old", before people forgot who you were, before there were care homes, before anyone passed away, before we were all separated by time and distance and death.  

We had a family dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's Thursday when we arrived.

Friday, before we met for lunch, we took the children to see the troll under the bridge (in Freemont). 

We drove by Seattle Pacific University, where I went to college.  It was weird to see the place where I lived and studied some 20 years ago, where I really tasted my first bit of independence and adulthood.

Kerry Park in the pouring down rain.  

The worst storm system in over 40 years was supposed to hit on Saturday.  It was predicted that near hurricane force winds would hit the coast line with rain and lots of toppling trees and downed power lines.  It was a bit unnerving to be far from home just in case it hit hard enough to knock trees down in our neighborhood and it wasn't good timing because the worst of the storm was to happen at the start of the memorial service so it did deter several people from coming.  As it turns out, the storm stayed off shore so the big fiasco as broadcasted on every news channel and all over social media never actually happened.

But this happened...

Brighton was playing outside and he tripped and fell on his face on pavers knocking out half of his front tooth (of course an adult tooth).  He had blood all over, a swollen lip, a scrape on his arm, and a bloody/scraped nose.  It was after hours for all dentist offices and a terrible stormy night but we did find the nicest dentist who agreed to help Brighton at 8:00 after she picked up her children.  Phil took Brighton in and was so impressed at how kind and caring she was and her 9 daughter helped assist.  She said Brighton was the calmest and bravest 6 year old she has ever worked with.  We were so grateful that she was able to cap his tooth.  And Brighton was very excited to get a goody bag full of dental treats (floss, toothbrush...and he talked her into giving him the sunglasses LOL).  He also was very excited that the tooth fairy came.

Phil had asked the dentist what her husband did (he was with a patient which is why she brought her children with her).  He is an oncologist (bone marrow transplants) based out of the University of Washington.  Phil mentioned that Gramps had worked there and had won the Nobel Prize.  She was astounded and said that her husband picked U of W largely because of the influence of Gramps and even referenced him and some of his medical papers in his application.

His tooth is not the perfect beautiful front tooth that he had and I am still a little traumatized by the whole event (I knocked out half of 6 teeth when I was younger and spent a ton of time in the dentist chair as a result of this including a bad infection when I was in 9th grade that rivaled birth pains!  I have never like my smile and have always felt unattractive because of my teeth and I don't want that for my child.)

Before Bob's memorial, we decide to take the children down to the market place.  There were a surprising amount of people there considering the storm everyone was bracing for.  Pike's Place is an unusual mix of tourist and transient.  The market is full of people and odd little shops that I can't believe manage to stay in business and then fish markets and vegetable that seem awfully spendy.  The alleyways are full of homeless people just wanting to get out of the wind and rain.  It is a rather dirty and smelly place.  All part of the big city experience I suppose.

What a bizarre sounding shop we saw across from our parking garage.

Walking to the market.

I liked this graffiti...dream little Kellys!

Here we are...the famous Public Market.

Monkfish

This fish is rather creepy.

I think mushrooms are rather fascinating.  If the weather hadn't been so terrible, I would have had the children sketch the wild (poisonous) mushrooms at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  They are the big red mushrooms with the white spots.  Fairy tale mushrooms!

With the pig.

The chewing gum wall.  A person there told us that the wall had been scraped down not that long ago and it was already covered with gum.

This picture is hilarious.  If you can double click on the photo and enlarge it, Jubilee's expression is priceless.

Walking past the young man sleeping in the alleyway (how very tragic...can't help but wonder why such a young man is out on the streets).

At the waterfront.

The ferris wheel would have been fun but not for 75 dollars!

Incidentally, this young man had to be talked to a million times on the trip.  Oh my!  He really had a difficult time.  In fact, I can say collectively, that this is one of the hardest trips that we have ever had with the children in terms of behavior and we have done a lot of trips.  When we got home, Phil took them all to the track to RUN RUN RUN. 

View of downtown

Bob's memorial was hosted by a neighborhood cafe owner and we had woodfire oven pizza to serve the guests.  It was really rather lovely.  It was small and intimate but neighbors and friends from Bob's childhood showed up (and more would have come except for the storm).  Everyone visited and looked at pictures of Bob and then we passed around a microphone so people could share their memories. 

Some of Bob's old friends that he used to skateboard and surf with.

The children waiting for pizza.

My Aunt Martha giving her speech.  Just look at those pictures of Bob in the background.  When I see the pictures of that sweet little boy, that Bob once was, it makes me tear up.

Gathering around, remembering Bob.

I was so glad that Gram spoke.  I admit being a little worried when she took the microphone.  She had been confused about Bob's death and just the day before hadn't seemed to connect that Bob was her son.  But at this moment, she remembered, and had something sweet to say about him.