Always go to the funeral.
I know, I know...no one likes funerals. Most funerals vary somewhere between bad and horrible. The music can be awful and the spoken words can be embarrassing. But funerals are not entertainment. They are about two things: showing respect for the deceased and saying "I care" to the family.
Funeral attendance has fallen upon hard times. We are all busy. We don't want to be inconvenienced. We don't like downers. Often attending costs us both time and money. But showing up at a funeral means the world to the family of the deceased.
A few years ago my mother died at age 91. She had been out of circulation with Alzheimer's Disease for nine years. Even worse she lived in a remote town in South Georgia. I pleaded with my friends not to attend. Yet many came anyway. I will never be able to communicate how humbling it was to see them or how comforting it was to be embraced by them.
Always go to the funeral.
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