“Mary Ann’s mother died.”
Mary Ann had once been my commanding officer when I was reserve cop in what seemed like another lifetime ago.
“I’ll send a card and some flowers,” I said.
“No, you’re going to attend the funeral with me.”
“I’m not coming to no funeral.”
“Why not? It’s the right thing to do. You should go to pay your respects.”
“Look, I’m not going to no funeral where they got an open casket with a dead body inside and everyone’s mingling around 10 feet from it like they’re at a cocktail party. It really creeps me out. So, um, NO.”
“You only have to stay for a few minutes, but you really should go pay your respects.”
“NO. END OF DISCUSSION.”
“What if there are a few pretty girls there that might need consoling?”
I thought about that for a minute.
“I’ll drive.”
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I’ll take the first pitch on this one…..
*in my best “mom” voice* Shameless, Lincoln. Shameless!
Meh, you’ll be happy to know I struck out as usual then.
Oh it could be much worse…you could have gone to a FAMILY REUNION to scope out ladies! Ack!
@J: No chance of that happening, since my family disowned me. Well everyone except my Mommy, cuz she still wubs me so.
A funeral typically is held in a church or synagogue and not always, but mostly, the casket is closed. A wake or visitation is the more social get-together and pay my last respects type of deal, and if there is one, the casket is usually open but it depends on many factors of the family’s and the deceased’s wishes.
It’s obvious from your post, that you haven’t attended either of these kinds of things, in awhile!
The funeral is usually the less painful though. Sometimes it can be a church service with a sermon and singing of hymns, but always there is prayer of some sort and usually one or two people to talk about the deceased or the family sharing a story about them.
I’ve been to enough to know. I’ve also had the unfortunate experience of losing my grandma, dad and uncle in the span of just under 4 years, so I had lots of practice and experience from both sides. I delivered my father’s eulogy at his funeral, and his wish was to be cremated. So if you are squeamish, you may be in for a pleasant experience if in this case, the deceased chose cremation, since there is no casket. It is a bit less morbid.
You have to at least show up for Mary Ann, if you love and have an respect for her and her family.
It must have been a wake then. Funeral or not, these things always creep me out. When I go I expect to be cremated with my ashes dumped in a trash can from whence I came. :-D