Family Gatherings

The funeral went as well as can be expected, despite the early start for us to get there we didn’t hit too much traffic, perhaps just adding around an extra 15 minutes onto the journey time. Not bad considering it was rush hour. For some reason I couldn’t and didn’t sleep last night despite trying so when I eventually got up I was tired. I would say last night was the worse sleepless night I’ve had in a long time.

Lots of familiar faces, cousins I have since worked out I have 11 or perhaps 12 on Dad’s side of the family and I know the names of just 8 of them. One face I’d seen at another funeral some years back was today pointed out to me as being a cousin which I never realised before. It’s kind of weird going to funerals with family who you know nothing about. I really only know four of them on a personal level, two because I was around them when there mother was sick and died when they where kids and the other two because they where especially close to my Nanna having had her living with her the past number of years, the rest are strangers many with kids of there own who are now teenagers. That was a bit freaky since I remember them when they where kids and my Nanna doting over her first Great-Grand Children and now they are young adults, I am beginning to feel old.

Fair play to Dad’s sister she did a good job in organising and planning it and it went smooth, we left her house for a church service, then drove past the ground of Everton onto the crematorium for another service and the committal and then on to a pub which put on a buffet. Sadly the pub was not much cop if I am honest but apparently the one she wanted she couldn’t get, the buffet was poor quality and if you where a veggie then you stood no chance. Instead I choose to just drink bottle of Smirnoff Ice until we left just before 12.30pm. We where home just after 1.30pm, no problems with traffic coming back. There really didn’t seem much point in stopping, I have my reasons for this and besides Dad couldn’t exactly drink with driving home.

I could say a lot more but let’s not go there, families can be strange things at times and I have to admit I don’t feel part of that family which is a shame because I would like to get to know them a lot better. I have a funny feeling it’s going to be a very long time till we see each other again, if I ever do.