Life's Discomforts

We just came back today from a quick trip to Central Kansas.  One of my wife’s aunts passed away, and the funeral was today.  I know the drill.  It works for most any funeral done in a rural area.
Go to the church (or mortuary, but usually a church) an hour before the funeral and sit for a “reading of the flowers”.  That means that the mortician person reads the cards that come with the flower arrangements, and also reads the memorials that were sent.  The idea is that the family knows who did what and who sent what, I would suppose.  During this time, the casket is left open for a final family viewing.
We then are ushered into an area of the church reserved for family, and we wait until everyone else is seated.  That gives us time to potty, visit, smoke (outside) and generally get ready.  When everyone else is seated, the casket is closed and moved to the front.  The family is then ushered to the front and seated.
We then have the service, about 30 to 45 minutes long.  There are songs, usually solos, and remembrances; also an address given by a minister or church official.
We then are ushered out to our vehicles and go to the cemetery behind the hearse.  There is about a five minute committal service, then we stand around and visit a few minutes, then go somewhere for a dinner, usually prepared by church people.  After the dinner, we are all dismissed to our “separate places of abode”.
It may not be wild and crazy, but it works for a lot of people.  They find comfort in the familiar, even in the midst of a life-changing event.  And that may be the most comforting of all…that we can indeed find comfort in the midst of life’s discomforts.