Dealing With Death

[photo not ours]

I don't deal with death well.
But who does.
I just shove it off to someone else, ignore it, go on like nothing is different. In a lot of ways nothing is really different. They can deal with it.
Knowing that's not the way to deal with it, like everything else, that eventually we'll have to deal with it...doesn't seem to change how I choose to deal with it.

Tomorrow is Grandma's funeral.
The last of our grandparents is now gone. We'll probably never see much of the family again, gatherings have almost always centred around the grandparents. Over time we've seen less and less...until it has gotten to the point that the only time we see some of our cousins, aunts and uncles, is at funerals.

It's been about three years, since Grandpa's funeral, since we've seen some of them.

While this may not be a big deal, in our younger days there was always a real feeling of togetherness, a feeling of family, which has now been replaced by an indifferent distance, even when we're with them, often times we see the distance in their face. It's partially our fault, of course; that doesn't make it comforting, or better.

Death is just a part of living. Everything dies. Including family ties.

~ Catherine (et al)