it was ok...

Ok, my idea of what a military burial was and the actual performance of a military burial are two totally different things. Maybe it was because it was snowing. Maybe he didn't have enough honors. Maybe the funeral home just cheaped out. Or maybe I should stop getting my idea of what happens in life from movies. :p

Anyway, everything went off without a hitch, thankfully. Runaway caskets are funny in the movies, not so much in real life so I'm happy there were no mishaps. :p We met at the funeral home, where Father Tim talked about being reuninted with loved ones in "paladise." This is so rude, but it was literally all we could do to not burst out laughing right in the middle of the service. The funeral home might want to consider hooking up with a priest that has better pronounciation skills. Just an idea. It was very close to being a scene right out of a National Lampoon movie.

Afterwards, we traveled to the cemetery with our little funeral plaquards, lights on, hazard lights flashing. My sister told my brother and I that you can get a ticket for cutting off cars in a funeral. I didn't know that - I just thought it was something that wasn't done out of respect. Who knew. So, she took down the license plate numbers of the cars that cut us off. Some were accidental, some were blatant. I think she's going to call about the blatant ones.

Once there, we waited in our cars until everything was set up properly and representatives from the military arrived. The funeral director said a small speech while thick fluffy flakes of snow fell, then turned on a recording of Taps. The 2 military personnel did the folding of the flag ceremony while that played. I got pretty teary when they presented the flag to my father. It was all very nice.

However, I want to know what happened to the 21 gun salute?! Heck, they didn't even have a recording of it! Had I known, I would've made sure some friends were there to accomplish the honor. And I guess I kind of expected someone with a horn to be there. I wasn't thinking 3-piece orchestra, but I thought one lone bugle'er would've been appropriate. It wasn't the military honors I thought was going to happen. Guns & funerals = good stuff. :)

After the funeral we went out to eat with my uncle and his family. We had a good time catching up - there was a lot of laughing and chatting. I think we even talked about going to Florida together for a family vacation. To give you an idea of just how close that side of the family is, I sat next to my cousin, whom I had never met before. She's 13. Real tight family.

All in all it was a good but long day.

I've run out of time, but check back later for a summary of the first date I had last night..... Sneaky, I know - I didn't even tell you I had one! :p

D