I went to the memorial

I went to the memorial service of my mom's best friend.
I hate funerals not just because they are yanno, sad and morbid but because I think the whole funeral custom is so barbaric and disgusting.
This, however, wasn't like that. This was a celebration of life and that is cool.
Several people, including my mother, spoke. They told funny stories about the kind of person she was and had everyone in the church laughing (and crying a little).
THAT is the kind of service I would like to have. Something fun.

Mom and I were talking about her friend's last days. She knew she was dying but she told my mom she wanted just a little more time. My mom didn't really understand why she wanted more time because her friend was in excrutiating pain constantly and the only pain medication that really worked, made her unconscious.
I explained to my mom that no matter how big we all talk about how we're not afraid to die, I think it's bullshit. Yes, I can say right now that if I were to die right now, I wouldn't be afraid but how the hell can I really know that? I think that anyone would really have some fear because it is the "great unknown".
Whether we believe in the Bible or something else, we don't know for sure what is on the other side when we die. It could be nothing, it could be everything, but no one knows for sure. Facing the unknown is scarier than hell.

I rode to the church with my sister Dana and as we were getting out of the car, she realized that she didn't bring any tissue. I said it was ok because I had some in my purse.
As the service went on and I felt a few tears pricking my eyes, I took out the tissue, suddenly finding that it was only ONE tissue. "Oh well," I thought, "she's going to have to use her sleeve." lol
I wiped my eyes and nose a few times with the edge of the tissue and when my mom spoke, her voice was shaky and she got a little choked up a few times and that made my sisters and I cry a little too. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dana's hand next to me, gesturing for a tissue. Knowing I didn't have an extra, I tore off a clean edge of the tissue I was using and handed her that little scrap. She nearly burst out laughing and I think after, her tears were of laughter.
The service was almost over and I realized that it was the first time in a long time that my sisters and I didn't make complete spectacles of ourselves at a funeral.
When bad things happen in our family, for some reason, we deal with it with humor. We can find something freakin hilarious about pretty much any serious situation and laugh our asses off.
When my dad's mother died, we really cut up at her funeral but only because my oldest sister decided at about 4 am that morning to color her hair and she piddled around so long that morning that she ended up running late to the funeral so she put her wet hair up in a bun instead of drying it. She sat in the pew ahead of my sister Dana and I and about halfway through, we noticed that Rhonda had dye running down the back of her neck. Yes, it was a sad, solemn occassion but Dana and my other sister and I laughed our asses off all the way through the service. I hope people thought we had our hands over our faces to hide our sobs.
I'll try to remember to write about the funeral we were late for and we pulled into the parking lot on two wheels causing the funeral directors to come running out to see what all the noise was.
Oh, looks like I already did!