I Suck At Wakes

On Thursday, I experienced my first church-held wake. Yes, I suck at wakes. I've been to several wakes held at funeral homes, but never one held within a church... until now. So as weird as this sounds, I was actually a little intrigued about what the differences were between the two services.

Now, it would probably be remiss of me to not pay my proper respects to the individual who passed away. After all, were it not for her, I would not even have the opportunity to experience the church-held wake. So to my friend's (Cass) grandmother, may you embark on your new journey with happiness... and thank you.

Interestingly enough, I did not know Cass's grandmother all that well. She lived a long life... till the age of 101. As it turns out, there was something that she indirectly taught me that I will probably remember for a while... and that is tai chi. Okay, sure she did not really teach me the Chinese martial art. It was more of what Cass told me that his grandmother taught him about tai chi. Without having a visual makes the description difficult. But in essence, Cass told me that the martial art involved a watermelon, cutting it in half, giving one piece to someone, and taking the other piece. (There are motions that go with the description.) Needless to say, I'll always remember the watermelons because it was a funny analogy.

Anyway, the wake was held in a church (St. James) in Chinatown. Karen and I actually lucked out in terms of finding parking. After all, parking is very scarce in Chinatown... stereotypes aside in terms of Asian drivers. After having dinner with my in-laws, and leaving our baby daughter (Briana) with them, Karen and I headed into town. It just so happened that a car in front of the church was pulling out when we were arriving. It was great timing for sure.

The church service wake was nice. Cass, displaying his great microphone skills that will someday be handy when he runs for Mayor of Quincy (if I can ever convince him), presented a nice reflection on his grandmother. In fact, that was pretty much the way the wake went... speaker after speaker recounted stories about Cass's grandmother. And at the end, there was the final viewing and the whole shaking hands with the relatives of the deceased... also known as the part that not a lot of people like because they always feel awkward and uncomfortable thinking of things to say.

All in all, there are pros and cons of having a wake in a church. I did think that the recounting of stories definitely provided a nice personal touch to the wake that you would not normally get at a funeral home. You can feel more connected with the family by listening to the stories. The church-held wake, however, was very linear. Like a mass, there were a progression of things like the rosary and the speeches before the viewing of the body. If someone was looking to make a quick pit stop to offer condolences or whatnot to the family, a church-held wake was probably not the way to go.

Considering the circumstances, it was an interesting night. After picking up Briana, Karen left so that my friend (Marc) and I could hang out with Cass after the wake. It was definitely fun to hang out with the two of them. Unfortunately, we ended up at my friend's (Garv) restaurant, Blue-22 located in Quincy.

You would think that being friends with the restaurant owner would be beneficial. Sadly, I think we know the wrong person when it comes to Blue-22. I hate to say it, but the service is just terrible at Blue-22. That seems to be a common complaint (not just by me, but other people I know) about the place: the service. It's like the waitstaff is trained to come and take your initial order... and never return. And when they do return, they forget to bring something that you ordered... like my second Guinness.

I find it painful to go to Blue-22 at times. The sad thing is, the terrible service can be easily remedied. Oh well. Nevertheless, despite Blue-22, it was a nice night to hang out with Cass and Marc.