5.08.2006

Sad, but a different kind of sad


FYI: That really good friend of Mr. and Mrs. Are who is married to a boisterous woman with a baby on the way ... He's NOT DEAD. You probably already knew that. Apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Are already knew that. However, due to some serious miscommunication, Mr. Dub and I spent the entire weekend mourning his loss.

On Friday, my betrothed got a message from Mr. Are informing him that he would no longer be traveling through our town on his way out East because he would be taking a detour to Arizona for Mr. Claw's funeral. Needless to say, we were shocked. Mr. Claw is one of Mr. Are's oldest and dearest friends. And while we can't count ourselves among his closest associates, we have spent some solid time with the Claws over the years, via the Ares, and have our own respective bond. So we were saddened, particularly for the Ares, whom we envisioned in a catatonic state of disbelief.

To express our love, I sent Mrs. Are two phone messages, an email and a text message expressing my support, while my husband left a message for Mr. Are. Knowing they were way out of town (like on an island in the Pacific), we understood why they would be hard to reach, but we assumed that mourning and not time zones was the actual reason for their silence. So all weekend we speculated on what might have happened to this young man and how people were taking it. And we worried about Mrs. Claw and the Ares ... A LOT. Finally, I got a text message from Mrs. Are who mentioned that they were doing fine, but very sad for -- and then the phone said "text missing." I automatically assumed the missing name was Mrs. Claw. Seeing how well Mrs. Are was taking it, I began to assume that Mr. Claw had been diagnosed with a terminal illness we hadn't known about, and which all of them were somewhat relieved for him to be freed from.

In my search for answers and closure, I began scouring the Arizona obituaries, but the closest I got to Mr. Claw was a 59-year-old woman with his same last name. Since no surviving relatives were listed, I moved onto a background search on Mr. Claw, hoping it would bring up any pertinent news stories (on a horrific car crash, for example). Instead, it mentioned that his mother was that same 59-year-old woman, who had passed away on the same day we believed Mr. Claw to have died. Doubtful that both would have died simultaneously, I called Mr. Dub and said, "Are you sure that Mr. Claw is dead?" To be sure, he listened to Mr. Are's fateful message.

He quickly called me back to say, "No, Mr. Are clearly said it was Mr. Claw's mother, not him, who had passed away."

So we all had a hearty laugh. In the end, it's not funny at all. Mr. Claw recently lost his father and his mother was quite young so he's devastated understandably. But the knowledge that Mr. Claw is alive and well is cause for me to rejoice. It also makes me look like a really good friend in that I would be so obsessive about providing solace for a friend's friend's mother's passing.

This Monday, which started out with burnt pancakes and an outfit crisis, has drastically improved with the rebirth of an acquaintance.

Maybe I should mistake friends for dead more often.

5 comments:

stephanie said...

i love that you went all spy tech and figured out the story for yourself. very funny (and sad for the claws). and please move to arizona. (did you mean that you are actually moving here next may?) i am not thin, nor do i shop at anthropologie. target is my main source for clothes these days. i just happen to know some hip people. it would be so dreamy to have you and your baby (and dave) so close!

joojierose said...

so laura. . .
my roommate melanie was cleaning out the downstairs closet of our condo (chelsea II #3)and she found a brain MRI of yours. . .do you want it? it's quite possibly the most random thing ever to find, but i'd be more than happy to ship it to you if you need it! :)

Mrs. Dub said...

steph - alas, moving to the az is but a dream at this point, but i'll keep you posted. i'm glad to hear that you still eat meat and wear clothes from target. remember your roots!

jooj - sadly, i can't even think of why i would have had an mri. but i know i've had several so maybe it has something to with amnesia. in any event, i don't need it. i tend to throw these things away. but if makes some sort of cool art project, be my guest.

Leslie said...

this is just silly, girls. thanks for the laughs. :) mrs. dub, do you have a belly pic to post yet, or is yours still normal-looking? apparently, my baby has turned into a volleyball and is hiding under my shirt.

Lindsey from The R House said...

hysterical. it is even more hysterical to read it in print. mr. r said that the funeral was nice. he just arrived at the in-laws to start his internship. it has been a long week and it will be an even longer 3 weeks. the phone call you referred to was the highlight of my day.