My dad's side of the family is spread all over the country, and it was remarked upon by a few of us at the last funeral we attended (my late uncle, six years ago) that funerals seemed to be the only time we all seem to get together. Out of that has come an effort, at least once a year, for everyone to get together in happier circumstances and catch up. It's worked well.
The funeral service always tends to be quite sombre, as befitting the occasion, but I have always found the less formal setting of the wake to be a much more upbeat affair. It tends to bring out good memories, amusing anecdotes, and a much more celebratory approach to the person's life. In the case of my late uncle, we were all laughing at my dad's absolutely spot-on observation that the deceased would be in fits of laughter at us lot standing in the pouring rain, getting soaked to the skin, watching his casket be lowered into the ground. Nobody who knew my late uncle well would doubt it. It was his sense of humour to a tee.
Those kind of things are a great way to remember someone.
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