Meeting cousins and getting free food.

We spent Saturday morning at a funeral.  The odd thing about it was that I really didn't know the gentleman all that well.  He was 92.  I only vaguely know his wife and children.  He was my mom's first cousin's husband. And yet it was so important to go.  He was a gentle person.  He had served his country during WWII as a gunner.  He was a prisoner of war.

I cried.  Over and over.  My kids couldn't believe it because they knew that I didn't know Fritz all that well.

But the priest did such a magnificent job with the sermon.  And the family was so beautiful.

And then we did the procession to the cemetery and I just kept getting knocked over by the absolute beauty of the kindness of complete strangers.

I don't know how it goes where you live but around here it is a courtesy for other drivers on the road to pull over and wait for a funeral procession.

When I was a young girl it seemed that people had forgotten that courtesy.  They were all in a hurry to get where ever it was they needed to be.

Recently though, that old courtesy has come back.  People will completely pull over and wait through a funeral procession.

It's beautiful.  The whole notion that complete strangers stop what they are doing out of respect for the dead and the family.

Such a beautiful reminder that people are good.

My girls went with me even though they really had no idea who these old people were.  But my youngest had the right attitude.. .she said "I get to meet more cousins and get free food!"

(Leave it to kids to find a way to make you laugh even at the most somber of occasions.)

But at the end of the day I am certain that she got more out of it than a free lunch.  

She and her sisters learned that when someone dies, you go to the funeral.  It means so much to family and friends.  This man was 92 years old and he had over 200 people at his funeral.  That is lovely.

She and her sisters learned that there are good people in the world. . .people who make sure that they take care of their friends, who are often like family.  The funeral Mass was held at the church that Fritz and Betty Mae belonged to for most of their married life.  But that church no longer has a hall for holding funeral dinners.  Their oldest daughter is a teacher so the staff at her school provided lunch at the school for the family.  That is lovely.

She and her sisters learned that family might not always spend a lot of time together but there are great stories to be told when you do get together. . .so listen up and don't be in a hurry to go home.

She and her sisters learned (again) that old people where once young and "beautiful" as in "a real good catch."  They became beautiful in a different way as they aged.

She and her sisters learned that it's OK to cry.  Even if you don't know the deceased all that well.  Funerals are about saying goodbye and always dredge up the emotions of previous goodbyes.  Sometimes you just have to go with it.

Meeting cousins and getting free food.  And saying goodbyes.