Back from the funeral for my cousin's boy. The large church was effing FULL of people. The kids know one another in school, and they end up gluing the parents together. All these <25 people milling around, and their parents looking like they're in shock. Each of the parents seemed stunned by the possibility it could be their kid, but the younguns seemed largely oblivious to that. They were saddened at the loss of their friend, but they didn't show signs of the blank terror on the faces of their parents.
I can't quite figure out why not. Shouldn't they be utterly stunned that someone their age, a kid they've known as a peer, has died? But they were as animated as kids that age usually are.
I'm likely reading my own reactions into all this. Who knows what any of those people thought or felt?
And my cousin & her husband had to stand there for 2 solid hours or more as all the people from the church lined up to pay respects, one at a time. I've never seen a receiving line at a funeral, and I hope I never do again. Seems an awful obligation to impose on the bereaved, for one thing. For another, I really hate the reduction of mourning to such a formula. That's a problem I have with funerals in general, but the weird line just brought attention to that aspect.
One good thing: Along with the usual pamphlet with the photo of the deceased, they handed out an info sheet on how to recognize acute alcohol poisoning as different from merely shit-faced. I already made one of the yahoos read it, and the other two will do so as well. I'ma send it home with Yahoo No. 1 with instructions to force it on his roomies and friends. Some of the info I didn't know, and it could really be helpful. Information is always better than the generic abstinence message usually given to kids, which has zero value after they've decided to take the first drink.