Funeral in the Dark

Yesterday, I attended Delores Hagberg's funeral at the Baptist Church out of town eight miles. As I walked into the church, I noticed that people were milling around in the dark.

The electricy had gone out.

One old timer said, This always happens whenever we get a good rain."

I guess there's a big difference between living in the big city (metro-Hayward), and out in the "suburbs" (a.k.a. boonies.)

After a while, we all realized that this outage was for the duration -- and thus, the service started anyway.

Somebody duct taped a flashlight to a microphone stand for the preacher, and we sang all the hymns acapella.

I'll bet, just about then, a few faithful Baptists regretted their decision to scuttle the old upright piano in favor of an electronic keyboard.

All said, it was a good send off for Delores, also known as the cinnamon roll lady.

Finally, four songs, one sermon, and two prayers later, the service ended with a benediction -- and guess what happened when the preacher said "amen"?

The lights came on!