"MareCat" > wrote in message
...
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
> .. .
>> wrote:
>>> Nancy Young wrote:
>>>> (apologies to those who find that term offensive)
>>>>
>>>> We went to Las Vegas for my BIL's funeral and there it was ...
>>>> funeral food. I'd asked, what happens after the funeral? Are we
>>>> going out or something? Understand, the only person who lives there
>>>> is my SIL and she didn't have the room or the energy to host a whole
>>>> bunch of people from out of town.
>>>>
>>>
>>> So was this the first funeral you've ever attended? If so, you've
>>> certainly lived a sheltered life! If you leave the whole thing to the
>>> church people you get cafeteria food. But I guess that's what they
>>> do.
>>
>> I've only been to one funeral in my life and I didn't go with the family
>> and
>> other friends afterwards so I don't know if they served a "dead spread"
>> or
>> not. The deceased was a friend from high school who had only graduated
>> the
>> month before. I've never been to another funeral since. Not everyone
>> goes
>> to funerals. I won't again unless it's immediate family.
>
> I've only ever been to two funerals -- one for a coworker who died of a
> heart attack at the age of 35, and one for a friend who died of stomach
> cancer at the age of 46. Everyone else who's ever been close to me is
> still living.
That's amazing. My parents brought me to wakes and funerals when I was a
little kid. Partly because they couldn't afford a sitter, partly because it
wasn't all that unusual in our family for kids to attend, and I suppose it
also was their attempt to explain death. But I went to a whole lot of wakes
and funerals for aunts, uncles, friends of my parents, cousins. One
grandparent (the only one still alive while I was) and I drove 900 miles for
that one.
Recently, we haven't attended many. For one thing we've moved across the
county, so no one expects us to fly in at a moment's notice for funerals
that we normally would attend if we were nearby.
>
> We attended a "dead spread" luncheon at the home of the 46-year-old
> friend's widow after the funeral. All of the close friends and family were
> asked to bring a dish to pass. I brought King Ranch Chicken and peach
> cobbler. Lots and lots of people attended, so there was *tons* of all
> sorts of food and copious amounts of alcohol.
>
> Mary
>