My Aunt Aileen has been on my mind these past couple days mostly because her birthday fell on the 19th of July. (For a previous Buzzyblog post on her and celebrating her birthday (click here.) That she co-celebrated with Ben Forest and Herbie McKay always made the 7/19 Buzzy birthday party a fun triple-header.)
The second reason Aileen has been rustling around in my attic of memories has to do with a young family of four in Buzzy’s purchasing ice cream. As they placed their selections on the counter and began to pay me, I looked at the two kids and said “What good parents you have. They are buying you ice cream for lunch at Buzzy’s.” Mom laughed as Dad followed up with “You know what they say, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.”
As I gave them back their change, I told them “Well, my Aunt Aileen had it as “Things aren’t always as bad as they seem, everything’s better with a little ice cream.” Mom smiled and said “Oh, I like that. I’m going to start using that.” Dad said “I’m gonna stick with I scream.”
I started to make some wise ass comment about women being smarter; but elected not to since that may have been the one and only poem that this fella had ever read and memorized. I left it at “Thank you, Have a nice day. There are some napkins on the bread rack if you need them for the kids.”
What I did not tell them is that I was actually quoting my niece Katie’s words about Aileen at her funeral. Here is the full text of Katie’s funeral tribute to Aileen. And while Aileen may or may not actually have said all of these things, nevertheless, it is still some very good advice. Thank you Katie!
Carpe diem – seize the day,
take all your troubles and throw them away.
Let people know how you feel,
when you buy diamonds, make sure they’re real.
Don’t hold a grudge, but never forget,
pretend to live without regret.
Bask in the sun and ignore the rain,
end each meal with a glass of champagne.
Notice smiles but memorize tears,
don’t be afraid of your own fears.
Things aren’t always as bad as they seem,
and everything’s better with a little ice cream.
Say what you mean and mean what you say,
carpe diem – seize the day.
Warren’s farewell tune is a good one. Think I’ll go get a bowl of ice cream to consume as I listen to it.
Note a couple video scenes show him with Letterman (2:27.) His final public performance was on Dave’s show where he did 3 songs (click here.)