The House of Hirsch (1)

As most of you know, my Uncle Oliver died in January after a long battle with cancer. It was quite traumatic at the time, my usually stoic family fell apart in a way I'd never seen.

Two weekends ago, we had a memorial service at a converted church/community center in Manhattan. We had had some time to process, so it wasn't nearly as heavy as the weekend we spent at the hospital, grappling with whether to take Oliver off life support.

There was over a hundred fifty people at the service, ranging from close friends and family to Oliver's first-grade classmates and students who interned at his shop. It began with an hour of people taking the microphone and sharing anecdotes and praise about my uncle's long and storied life. Then the living members of his old band, Sturm & Twang, took the stage with his daughter Jenny and performed some of Oliver's favorite sad songs.

Afterwards, there was a reception with wine, coffee and Brazilian finger foods (Oliver's wife Marcia is from Brazil.) And as weird as it may sound, it was actually a happy day. Remembering all the good things from this man's life and spending time with the people who loved him, couldn't have been a better way to say goodbye and spend a sunny afternoon in New York.

I will tell interesting stories from the memorial weekend over the course of this week. (And yes, everybody's favorite confetti guest star Rebecca was there, so expect a few laughs.)