David and Brie pulled the kids out of school for the week so that they could mourn their Uncle Matt. They needed some time to let their feelings out. Before Jenn went to the airport, Malachai and Jordan talked to her about performing for Matt’s funeral. “We want to play at Uncle Matt’s funeral”, Malachai said.
“What did you want to sing?” she asked
“If we can get Dad to agree to it, we wanted to do ‘Remember’”, Jordan said sadly.
Jenn smiled. “I think he would have liked that”, she said. “If you have trouble convincing your Dad to let you do ‘Remember’ at the funeral, give me a call. I’ll talk to him.”
David had hear the entire exchange. “I don’t care”, he said. “Your Aunt Jenn’s right, kids, your Uncle Matt would have liked that.”
Jordan crossed the room to hug her father. “Thank you, Daddy”, she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“It’s not a problem, Jordan. Your Uncle liked that song. It wasn’t his favorite song, but he liked it nonetheless.” He hugged her back.
As they stood there, Jordan cried a little more. “I miss him, Daddy”, she said, her voice full of the tears she was crying.
“I know, sweetie. We all miss him. He was a good man.”
“Jordan, we need to let Caleb and Logan know about this”, Malachai said.
She sniffled and pulled away from her father. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Thanks again, Daddy. We’re going to get Logan and Caleb over here so that we can rehearse.”
He nodded. “Go on ahead, Jordan.” As his son and daughter walked away, he looked to Jenn. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait to leave? Or that one of us can’t go with you?”
“Yes, David, I’m sure. I’ll see you all at the funeral.” She sighed. “Matt asked you to speak, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How’s your speech coming?”
“I’ve got a good base for it, but I’m working on it still.”
“You’ll do fine, David. Don’t over think it.”
He laughed sadly. “I wish it were that simple. My brain doesn’t work that way, Jenn. Just look at the music I write.”
She laughed. “Very true.” She glanced at her watch. “Well, I hate to run, but I had better get going or I’ll miss my flight.” She hugged David. “Thank you for everything.”
He smiled and hugged her back. “No problem, Jenn. You’re welcome here anytime.”
“Thanks.” She pulled away and smiled. “I’ll see you all in a couple of days.”
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After Jenn had left, David went upstairs to work on his speech for Matt’s funeral. Before doing that, he wanted to see if the idiots at the newspaper got his brother in law’s obituary right. He pulled up the website and we straight to the obituaries. Matt’s was the first one he saw. He read it silently to himself. “Former Master Gunnery Sergeant Matthew James Cartwright passed this week, ending a yearlong battle with lung cancer. He is survived locally by his sister, Brie Draiman, and her family, which includes Disturbed vocalist David Draiman, her husband, and their ten children. He is also survived by his wife, former First Sergeant Jennifer Jessop Cartwright.
“The service will be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church on Saturday afternoon followed by internment at Arlington National Cemetery.
“The family has requested at no flowers be sent, rather that donations be made to the American Cancer Society in the Master Gunnery Sergeant’s name.”
David smiled. Brie did an amazing job writing that, he thought as she closed the internet browser and pulled up his speech. After making sure his glasses were on his face, he read over what he’s written already and started making small changes here and there. After about thirty minutes, he had perfection. He grabbed his iPad from his desk drawer and transferred the speech from his computer to it. After the transfer was finished he put his elbows on the desk and rested his head in his palms. I hope I do him some justice when I do this. It’s not easy to honor a man who had such a interesting life, no matter how short it was. There was only one way to find out if he’d captured everything about Matt that he wanted to; he had to go talk to Brie.
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He found his wife sitting in the living room with the children. “Baby, can I talk to you for a moment in private please?”
She looked at the kids from Malachai and Amanda down to Jessykah to Marc. “Would you all excuse your father and I for a moment?” she asked. The children all stood and left the room as David took a seat on the couch next to her. “What’s on your mind, honey?” she asked.
“I want you to read over this and tell me what you think?”
“What is it?”
“It’s what I’m going to say at Matt’s funeral.” He held the iPad out to her.
She took it and read over the document. Tears filled her eyes as she sat and read the speech that her husband would give at her brother’s funeral. She looked up at him as she handed the iPad back. “You couldn’t have captured him better, baby. You really couldn’t have. I know he’s in heaven looking down and saying, ‘Not bad, brother in law. Not bad at all’.”
He reached out and brushed the tear the fell from her eye with his thumb. “I hope so”, he said, “because I’ve been struggling with this since yesterday and I know I’m running out of time. Aren’t we leaving tomorrow for Arlington?”
“Actually, I couldn’t book the flight for tomorrow. We’re leaving the day after tomorrow.”
He nodded. “That should give us plenty of time to get everything packed. I think I need a new suit for the funeral.”
She laughed. “I haven’t seen you in a suit since we married.”
He laughed himself. “I haven’t seen you in a dress since then either.”
“And you’re not going to on Saturday either. You know how much I hate dresses and skirts.”
“So you’re going to wear slacks?”
“That was the plan. Jordan’s planning on a dress and Maddie, Meagan, Makayla, Jessi all want new dresses for Uncle Matt’s funeral.”
“We need to take the boys shopping anyway to get them all suits. The only suits they have are the ones they wore for the wedding.”
“Well, why don’t we go do that; go shopping for the funeral.” She laughed sadly and shook her head. “God that sounded so bad.”
“What about your clients?”
“I called them all asked if I could call and reschedule with them after the funeral. I can’t work this week. Thankfully, my clients are all a pretty understanding group.”
He smiled slightly and nodded. “That’s good.” He stood. “Before we go, I need to call the guys and let them know when the funeral’s scheduled for. They all wanted to be there.”
She nodded. “Ok. While you call the guys I’ll get the kids ready to go.”
“Are we going to have Malachai and Amanda go with us?”
“Yes, Amanda needs more clothes period. Her stomach’s getting too big for her clothes.”
“The joy of carrying twins. I remember that from when you were pregnant with Jacob and Jordan. You out grew your clothes rather quickly.”
She smiled, this time it was genuine. “God, I remember those days. That was the worst nine months of my life. You got shot, Tiffany put me on bed rest, the nightmares… I wouldn’t relive that period of my life if I were paid.”
He chuckled. “You and me both, gorgeous.” He sighed. “To make the call or not to make the call? THAT is the question”, he said.
“Stop ruining Hamlet, David. It’s not funny.”
He shrugged. “Thought I’d try to lighten the mood”, he said with a chuckle and walked toward the stairs.
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After making the phone call to tell the guys when the funeral would be, David and Brie took their every growing family to the mall to go clothing shopping. Each of the kids got a new outfit to wear for the funeral and Amanda got a whole new wardrobe. “I’m lucky to have you to help me pick out clothes, Mom”, she told Brie.
“Are you saying I have good fashion sense?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not easy to be the significant other of a rock star, or rock star in training in my case. You always have to look the part in public. I’m glad that I have someone with experience to show me how it’s supposed to be done.”
“I do my best, sweetie. There are times when even I fall short.”
“I have yet to see it, Mom. I haven’t seen it if it has happened.”
---------------
They were all packed and ready to go. It was the most difficult trip the Draiman family had ever packed for. The moving around during the War had nothing on this. They were burying one of their own. Putting the body of the bravest man David and Brie had ever had the privilege of knowing in the ground. A piece of the both of them died with Matt when he left the Earth.
Jordan sobbed as she packed her suitcase. This was one trip she wasn’t looking forward to. She was going to see her Uncle Matt in uniform for the first time, but he wouldn’t be up and walking around while wearing it. He would be lying in a casket. The thought killed her. She was, in a way, glad that she would be able to pay one final bit of tribute to him before he was placed in the ground for his eternal rest.
Jake was helping his little brother Marc pack his suitcase. “Jake, what are they going to do with Uncle Matt now that he’s dead?” Marc asked.
“Well, Marky, we’re going to go to his funeral and pay tribute to him.”
“What does tribute mean?”
Jake took a deep breath and tried to think of a way to put it so that four and a half year old Marc could understand. “You know how Mama and Daddy tell you good job when you get good grades in school or you do a good job on the basketball court?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re paying tribute to your performance.”
“Oh. So, it’s like when people clap after Daddy or Jordy and ‘Chai get off stage?”
“Something like that, but no one’s going to be clapping. More than likely the only time anyone will clap until after Jordan and Malachai get done with their song, if at all. And no one will clap that.”
Marc nodded. “What will happen next?”
“After we leave the church, we’ll go to the cemetery where Uncle Matt will be put in the ground.”
“Why?”
“That’s just what we do with our dead, little brother. I don’t understand it either.”
“Hmm… I don’t get it.”
“Me neither, Marky. I wish I did so that I could explain it to you, but I don’t understand it either.”
“What will happen at the cemetery before they put Uncle Matt’s body in the ground?”
“Well, the preacher will say some things, there will be something called a 21 Gun Salute, a couple of Marines will take the flag that’s draped over Uncle Matt’s casket and fold it up and give it to Aunt Jenny.”
“What is a 21 Gun Salute?”
“There will be Marines with rifles and they’ll shoot into the air as Uncle Matt is lowered into the ground.”
“Will it be scary?”
“Probably.”
“Mama and Daddy won’t let them shoot US will they?”
“No, Marky. Mama and Daddy will kill them if the thought even crossed any of their minds. Mama and Daddy don’t play around when it comes to their children and their safety.”
Marc let out a sigh. “That’s good. I don’t want to die like Uncle Matt did.”
“You won’t, Marky. You’re going to live a long and happy life.” Jacob knew that nothing was certain in this life but he wasn’t going to tell his little brother that. That, unfortunately, was a hard lesson that Marc was going to have to learn on his own.
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