For us, it was a pleasant, fun Easter.

But a phone call changed all that.

We had a repast of ham, mashed potatos, green beans (with and without almonds), cranberry sauce and buns. Yams, of course, even though they're not really food. Two bottles of sparkling grape juice. A corgi who decided to spend the entire meal on my lap, and behaved perfectly. Heelers who could not believe the plentitude of pig meat. And the insanity of putting even more away for later.

Dessert of angelfood cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Or chocolate pudding. Or any combination you wished of the above. Heelers and corgi thrilled at the whipped cream from a can.

Whipped cream rocks!

Happy, relaxed conversation, the whole family here. Eldest son and his girlfriend discovering they are both "Gordons". Or that they both had ancestors on the Mayflower.

Yes, ours who got the ship lost, and was the root cause of democracy on this planet. And hers, who helped build and refit the boat.

Yeah. Both ancestors went back to England with the ship...

And later, the long visit from wife's godson.

It was during that visit that the phone call came. Bad news about a cousin, who had died today.

And bads news about another.

The cousin who taught me the true spirit of playing Pitch. And how to sneak on to a golf course to play in February.

The cousin who always stopped by totally unexpected, and lightened up the room the instant he came in. The cousin who taught me it's okay to tell jokes and laugh in a funeral hearse.

The cousin whose name one of our sons carries.

The cousin who was somehow lost in his own home, his mother gone, his father in hospital. His brother finding him depressed, wasting away in a chair, less than a hundred pounds.

They had to amputate his legs.