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OKAY DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WARRIOR THAT MOVIE WHERE TOM HARDY WAS SWOLE. there was family angst and men crying. it was a lot to deal with. i struggled to cope.
Summary: Paddy Conlon died mostly unmourned, but not quite.
Notes: This started as a fluffyish piece about Tommy babysitting Emily, but then I just kept wondering how he'd even get to that point, what it would take for him to be a full member of the family, and it basically turned into Tommy's quasi-epistolary episode of "Behind The Music".
Brendan hadn't had the slightest clue what to expect in terms of mourners, but there were a decent number. A few cronies from the VFW. Paddy's old foreman from the mill and a couple of co-workers. Several relatives from scattered corners of the US, like second cousin Claire, who sent matching outfits and a book for the girls every Christmas. Some were complete strangers to him. Presumably a portion of them came from Paddy's AA group, but of course no one volunteered the information, and he didn't ask.
Almost everyone inquired after Tommy. Understandable, really. Brendan had decided his script earlier in the day. Tommy was busy, end of story. Only a few people asked him to elaborate and he threw them off fairly easily.
As a veteran, Paddy had been entitled to the whole nine. The report from the twenty-one gun salute stayed in Brendan's ears for a very long time. Upon returning to Philadelphia, the folded flag turned into this ten thousand pound weight in his closet. He didn't want it there. At the same time, the idea of throwing it in the trash felt wrong on a visceral level.
Tommy would have found something to do with it, something respectful and fitting, but Tommy wasn't there. Tommy was never there.
( Read more... )
Summary: Paddy Conlon died mostly unmourned, but not quite.
Notes: This started as a fluffyish piece about Tommy babysitting Emily, but then I just kept wondering how he'd even get to that point, what it would take for him to be a full member of the family, and it basically turned into Tommy's quasi-epistolary episode of "Behind The Music".
Brendan hadn't had the slightest clue what to expect in terms of mourners, but there were a decent number. A few cronies from the VFW. Paddy's old foreman from the mill and a couple of co-workers. Several relatives from scattered corners of the US, like second cousin Claire, who sent matching outfits and a book for the girls every Christmas. Some were complete strangers to him. Presumably a portion of them came from Paddy's AA group, but of course no one volunteered the information, and he didn't ask.
Almost everyone inquired after Tommy. Understandable, really. Brendan had decided his script earlier in the day. Tommy was busy, end of story. Only a few people asked him to elaborate and he threw them off fairly easily.
As a veteran, Paddy had been entitled to the whole nine. The report from the twenty-one gun salute stayed in Brendan's ears for a very long time. Upon returning to Philadelphia, the folded flag turned into this ten thousand pound weight in his closet. He didn't want it there. At the same time, the idea of throwing it in the trash felt wrong on a visceral level.
Tommy would have found something to do with it, something respectful and fitting, but Tommy wasn't there. Tommy was never there.
( Read more... )
