Weddings and Funerals.....

My Uncle passed away in the early hours of this morning.
I got the call around 4:30 a.m. - I'd been up all night, and finally fallen asleep a half hour earlier - so the phone call didn't shock me or surprise me as it might had I been sleeping soundly.

My Uncle was far too young, too healthy, too kind of a person for this to have happened. My Aunt shouldn't have to go through the feelings of anger, despair, sorrow and lonliness that she's going to encounter at various times, for more than likely the rest of her life. They had the kind of love you see in movies and wish you had yourself. I'm sure they argued and had their moments, but it was clear they adored and took care of each other. You could see it in their interactions with one another. It wasn't supposed to be this way...and yet, it is this way.

Over the past few days, I've been in contact with family members whom I love dearly - but don't often keep in touch with. It's not as if we live far away from each other, some of us are only a few miles apart; but life just sort of gets in the way and you lose touch. It's no one's fault, it's just the way things go sometimes. So the upcoming days are going to be bittersweet.....obviously, we'll all be together for a horrible reason. But it's always so much fun when we all get together, even when it's for a wake and a funeral. The bonding of friends and family is so powerful at times like these - and it sort of lightens the load of the sadness.

It's funny, I remember being younger and hearing the "grownups" always say, "Weddings and Funerals... the only time we see each other is at weddings and funerals." As a kid, I didn't put much stock into it because I was too young to attend many weddings - and didn't have to go to many funerals. And the ones I did go to, I never understood why everyone was laughing and joking when my beloved family member had died. How insensitive I thought it was.
But as a "grownup", I get it.

So now, despite the occasion for which we're all gathering, I'm sort of looking forward to the feelings that only being surrounded by your friends and family can provide. That is where the healing can begin.