Continued from Oklahoma

We awoke early the next morning (Thursday) to make it to the funeral in Pryor (a good hour drive). Again we loaded up the kids in the van and followed my wife’s uncle to the church. In an attempt to not sound disrespectful, I will say that I have never been to a Catholic funeral and I was not sure what to expect. It was very different from the typical Mormon funeral, but those in attendance seemed to enjoy the services and the purpose was served. Afterwards, there was a luncheon at the church for family members before heading over to the cemetery (another hour drive) in a small town that I never found out the name of. This cemetery was so small...it probably fit on a ½ acre. Somehow we missed out on about half of the graveside service and one of our children discovered thistle. Fortunately, it was contained to just her finger.

We then returned back to our guest accommodations and visited with grieving aunts and uncles. It was an awkward situation for me; one, because of my lack of knowing the deceased step-grandmother, and because the closest person I have ever lost is my grandparents, thirdly, death has a different meaning for me [(I assume) a very loaded word]. I mostly sat back and listened as an outsider looking in, trying to asses the situation, hoping for a chance to join the conversation. That never happened. We retired early that night and slept very soundly for the next 10 hours.