The official copies of Dan’s death certificates came in the mail today. The doc listed bone mets as the immediate cause, lymph node mets and NSCLC as intermediate causes, and cigarette smoking as the underlying (primary) cause of death. Which is interesting, since the certificate has an additional line specifically for other contributing conditions ’such as tobacco’ and he chose not to use it for that! I wonder if it will get properly counted as a ‘lung cancer death’? anyway, now I can get started on the legalities next week - I’m hoping I’ll be able to just file the ’summary administration petition’ and be done with it.

Got some refs for making a T-shirt quilt from my brother … will try to gather up Dan’s DG and techie tees this weekend, and see how many panes I can make from them!

Also finally talked to the funeral director today - he hadn’t yet sent off the obits I emailed him Tuesday night because he was waiting to talk to me first. I’ll check the papers tomorrow, but most likely it will be in Monday’s N&O, and the Smithfield Herald doesn’t come out again until Tuesday, the Cleveland Post until mid next week. He said the Oregonian obit would take a bit longer because he still doesn’t have some form that he needs.

I visited with Polly, Tom, and Vicki after work tonight and we talked a little more about plans for Dan’s memorial service. Initial thoughts on food are to have Dan’s favorites - much like what we had at our wedding reception: hummus, tabbouleh, sushi, … :) plus some grilled proteins and other family and personal favorites like double-stuffed oreos, half-done pickles, clam dip, etc. I’ll make sure we have kid-friendly edibles too. We talked about seating … it’s so “Dan” to just sit on the ground (maybe on a blanket), but I’m sure some people will be more comfortable on chairs or benches, so we’ll try to arrange that too. Plus some sort of canopy to keep rain or excess sun/heat at bay.

I’m planning to work some more on that Point of View editorial article about smoking and lung cancer research tonight … if I like it in the morning, I’ll solicit feedback, and then probably submit it instead of the (shorter but still-too-long) letter to the editor we’ve already collaborated on.

The rest of the books on grief that I ordered last week are here. I skimmed through one, of ‘meditations’, last night, and will probably flip through all the others tonight to decide which one I’ll read next …

Signed up today for the next blood drive at work. After all of the transfusions Dan got, it seems like the least I could do is ‘give back’, and now I have a decent likelihood of actually being able to keep this appointment (plus some others that I’m overdue for ;)

Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you too - wish you and Dan could have known each other down here.