Learning

[dr_tectonic]

Today we did funeral arrangments. My gosh, are there a lot of them! It took over three hours.

Things I have learned recently:

• Obituaries cost $16/line.
  
• Funeral directors never use words like "body", "dead", or "mortuary".
  
• Caskets come in different sizes! They also cost a couple thousand dollars, on average.
  
• All the rest of it costs several thousand dollars.
  
• Everything is easier if the funeral director is a member of the deceased's church.
  
• Grief comes and goes in waves. It seems like the feeling part of my brain is totally separate from the thinking part.
  
• Mormons get buried in temple clothing.
  
• Not only is crying okay, it helps -- but it also helps to take a break from crying, and that's okay, too.
  
• Family members get a lot more funeral than everybody else does.
  
• Even funeral directors don't necessarily have their burial arrangements all planned out in advance.
  
• You can laugh and mourn at the same time.
  
• Sometimes remembering makes me sad, but most of the time it doesn't.
  
• I have an awful lot of really wonderful friends.

It's hard to imagine that my father only died yesterday. It feels like it's been much, much longer.