The Funeral

My brothers funeral was exactly one week after his death. My sister and I planned his entire funeral because of the language barriers. I’ve tried to block out everything from that time in my life so a lot this will be wonky. We went to couple of funeral homes but we ended up going with the one that my aunt & uncle used for my cousins funeral. That first week I hardly slept and I had cried so much that I felt so incredibly drained. That entire week it had been snowing so it was very cold outside and I had no energy to change and get ready. We planned the funeral, went to the mall and bought his tuxedo, we informed everyone of the news, and prayed everyday for 9 days. I am Mexican and it’s a tradition in Catholicism culture to do sort of like a ceremony called “a Novena”. A novena is basically nine days of praying to help loved ones reach heaven safely. Family from all over the state and out of state came and they helped my parents through it all. I never really grew up with my extended family since we lived far from each other, but it was nice seeing them all again, even family that we stopped getting along with so long ago that, honestly, I completely forgot about. I wasn’t sure if I should punch them or let it go. To be honest, my brother definitely wouldn’t have wanted them there, but they’re “family” so I guess I should just be grateful that they came anyways.