The father of one of W’s classmates passed away on the 11th. He was roughly my age. Multiple myeloma.
When kids start getting a little older, they stop inviting everyone in their grade or class to a birthday party and instead either invite a smaller group of friends or stop having birthday parties altogether. C., W’s classmate, still invited W when his parties started getting smaller.
It was my first funeral — and funeral Mass — in well over a decade. The one suit I own was purchased many years ago, seldom worn, and it doesn’t fit.
Eddie’s wife, mother to C. and his two sisters, was supported physically and emotionally by her two daughters, who are significantly older than C. They gave wonderful eulogies for their father.
But what was probably roughest was seeing a 13 year old boy being a pallbearer at his own father’s funeral.
Hsuan and I attended both the mass and the burial.