So, this morning, I crawled (CRAWLED) out of bed into the shower at 8 in the morning. I was not happy, because: A) I was awoken at 8, too early for summer. B) I had to go to church at 9:30.

I got dressed up, and went to church with my mom. It's a Catholic church, and I had to be an Altar Server for it (thanks for letting me volunteer *glares at mother*)

The funeral started, and of course I'm pretty much where the action is on the altar. Helping out, helping the priest bless the casket. Regular funeral, everyone cried, blah-blah-blah.

Here's all the eye-opening. The woman who died? Big part of church. One of my friend's grandmothers. So big a part, our current and 2 past priests came for it. I went down to the casket with one of them, we blessed it, and I look up to see a man who looked like a bouncer, crying his heart out. I look around, and see everyone with tears streaming.

I went back up, feeling a lot of pain for the family. There were a good 150 people packed into thsi church. During the Gospel readings, and during the homily, I look out to see nearly everyone, man, woman, grandparent, either crying hard or giving in.

Then, my friend, whom being the "tough" kid he is, burst out in tears. If you knew this kid, you'd know that HE DOESN'T CRY. Then I see his cousin behind him, same age, leaning onto his mother's shoulder crying.

In fact, seeing all of this, it didn't look like crying. It looked like every last drop of sadness leaving every person. It was really hard to make it through without crying, and I didn't even know her.

Then, a person comes up to (I forgot the name for this) talk about the person who passed away. Everyone cried through the whole thing, except for most of us on the altar. It ended with what was supposedly the last phrase between her and her husband "Lord, take care of her in heaven."

Everyone just burst, at the same time. Then, a family member had to come up and play Amazing Grace on a guitar and had a hard time...

Overall, it was very, very saddening. I've been to 5 funerals I think. This one, however, was the worst. It was like...it's something I can't describe. It was just..amazing...and extremely saddening.

I for one, would not want a sad funeral. I'd have a brass band playing jazz, and throw a party. People should get together to celebrate one's life, not mourn it.

I really can't think of any appropriate way to reply to this thread. Sadness

Amen.

Thankfully, my Dad's funeral was like that.

I mean, this was REALLY saddening. It is undescribable! I felt more pain here, at a funeral for someone I don't know, then i did for my grandmother...but then again, I was 7 at my grandmother's...

But hey. It was a nice family, so they gave us each (there were 3 servers) 20$. Usually, we get 10$

Yoda quote in 3...2...1...

Don't sass me!

I thought this was a thread about a corpse that opened its eyes at the wake. How dissapointing.

Absolutely. A friend of my mum's died recently and left in her will a sum of money specifically for that purpose. Fancy dinner, drinks, everyone got drunk and enjoyed themselves, which is exactly what she would have wanted.

The only funeral I've been to was for my half-sister who was still-born. My dad and stepmum are both Quakers, so it was very laid-back and informal, we sat in the meeting house and anyone who wanted to speak did. It was pretty hard though, I definitely think funerals should be celebrations of life, but that's pretty hard to do when the person who died didn't actually get a chance to live. I remember just being filled with this sense of wasted potential.

I once had a conversation with a camp counselor of mine about funerals while Kayaking on the Puget Sound. When you're in a tiny plastic tube surrounded by giant ferries and the occaisional octopus or sea lion or whale, you get to thinking about this stuff...
Anyways, my counselor, Kier, explained that he wanted to be cremated, baked into cookies, and served at his funeral. He wanted an open casket, with the brownies inside, so people would think it was a joke, and he wanted a cardboard cutout of the Grim Reaper on top of the casket, with the words "Nice try, Kier," written along on the bottom.

-That guy knew how to throw a party, eh?

I went to my friend's funeral a few weeks ago...

He had fallen asleep at the wheel, drifted across the median, and hit another car. It was a similar thing, a packed church of college-age kids. Just about everybody was crying...all kinds of people who you usually don't see like this.

Anyway, losing someone close to you really puts life into perspective. We really don't know when our time to leave Earth is...so make the most of it. Don't wait around to do thing.

Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you, who transform into the force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them do not.

qft