I Suck At Funerals

On Saturday, Karen's grandfather was being laid to rest. For me, this was my first funeral. To quote Karen's grandmother at the cemetery, "I don't do this that often." Sadly, I suck at funerals.

I thought the funeral mass for Karen's grandfather was nicely done. The church itself was nice. I think Karen's grandmother was almost embarrassed when Karen's cousin (Doreen) recounted the story of how their grandfather shot an enemy soldier in the butt during the war just because he grew tired of seeing him on patrol. (Karen's grandfather was a sniper during the second world war.) Needless to say, it was a comical story that I remembered him telling me one time.

If there were one thing that I thought was a little peculiar about the mass, it would have to have been the obviousness that some of the people in attendance were not everyday church-goers despite the Catholic label. I just found that pretty funny because I am by no means religious. Yet I seem to know more about things like how to take communion than say... someone who is Catholic and can actually take communion. Again, I attribute that to the growing list of things that make no sense with organized religion.

Regardless, the burial was nicely done. It's definitely not what you see on television, that's for sure. Based on television, I imagined that we would see the casket being lowered into the ground while Taps was playing. That was not the case. Nevertheless, it was still nice.

Following the funeral and the social gathering after the funeral, Karen simply crashed. It has definitely been a long week for her family. She was so exhausted that she did something that she doesn't get to do that often: take a nap.

When Karen finally woke up, she decided to go out with some of our friends for dinner. Prior to the unexpected passing of her grandfather, Karen and I had plans to go to the Cape this weekend. The idea at the time was to celebrate Karen's birthday (even though it was in October) with a bunch of friends. I think some of our friends just wanted to be there when Karen had her first taste of alcohol since the birth of our baby daughter (Briana).

Those plans were canceled due to obvious reasons. In its place, the dinner plan for the night involved going to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea), my BFF (Kerry) and Kerry's significant other (Pat). Naturally, I offered to watch Briana while Karen went out. After all, I think Karen needed the fun more than I. Plus, I don't think my friends were as interested in seeing me drink as they do her. But Karen wanted me to come along. So she asked my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) to watch Briana while we went out for the dinner.

Well, let's just say that idea did not go well with Briana. Janine contacted us shortly before our food was about to be served, notifying us that Briana was uncontrollably crying. I figured this would happen. I assume like most babies, Briana is going through a phase. This phase, unfortunately, happens to be a separation anxiety phase.

I must say, this is a frustrating phase. And without sounding like a crazy overprotective parent or anything, I am not so sure people who do not have children really understand what it feels like to have a child go through this phase. I can say that because... well... at one time, I was one of those people. I thought the simple solution was to get a babysitter. End of story. Sadly, that is so not the end of story.

In the case of Briana, she is all about her daddy right now. (And really, what's not to like about her daddy, right?) I have a feeling that some of my friends think I can simply go out and do things. Unfortunately, it's not that easy while our baby is in this phase. In fact, I have been getting recent flack about attending events (or possibly attending events). It's frustrating because it's not like I enjoy the feelings of being trapped. I don't really know who does. But whatever. I can only control what I can control.

Regardless, I had to leave Not Your Average Joe's to pick up Briana. I was, however, present long enough to see my BFF make a nice toast to Karen's afterbirth. And no, she was not inebriated. Yay afterbirth! (And yes, she meant something else.)

Anyway, Briana was fine once I arrived at Janine's. Janine's BFF (Gretchen) apparently knew I had arrived because she didn't hear the uncontrollably cries anymore. It was that quick. And after Briana calmed herself down even more, she was back to her usual self... smiling at Gretchen and whatnot. I felt terrible for Janine, PJ, and Gretchen because they looked exhausted over Briana. And nothing adds to that feeling more than eating a cold burger. Yum!

Eventually I took Briana back home. By that time, Karen and our friends had gone back to our house. Everyone was having fun watching Scare Tactics. I think Pat may have gotten a kick out of seeing old pictures of Kerry. It was all good. I think Karen had fun, which was the goal.