It reminded me of some of the wakes I've been to. You're mourning, but you remember the wonderful times you had with the departed loved one. You're crying one moment, then laughing, then crying again.
Yeah, they were excellent. Suprisingly I saw a bit by Hugh Sidey on MTP that really spoke to me. I think it's still on the MSNBC website --it really captured reagan for me! Ronald Reagan was an optimist, ahero and a patriot.
He's just so large-- and big men like Brit Hume are the only ones fit to pay tribute in the media. A small, semi-illiterate, trying to fit in in Manhattan schmuck like Smith isn't worthy of this assignment.
One of my mother's girl friends (she's 86) has a practice wake every year. She invites oodles of folks over for hor'dourves and drinks and asks them to celebrate life. They've been doing it for so many years now, I honestly think her wake will be yet another entertaining event for all attendees - just as she has planned.