Ghetto Funerals

[lil_sunshine]

My uncle passed away last year around Memorial Day. He was pretty much a loner. He had a grown daughter and three grandchildren, but he hadn't seen his daughter in many years and had NEVER seen his grandchildren (he used the excuse that he had to go see them bearing gifts, which he never had the money to buy b/c he spent all his money on cheap liquor).

Being that he had no telephone, nobody knew he had passed until my uncle in BK (the rich one who ALWAYS attended one funeral or another with his wife and knew how to arrange one) received a phone call from the city's coroner's office asking him to come in and identify his body.

At the funeral, the program stated that his sunset was the day that he was confirmed as deceased, being that the exact date of passing was unknown. My aunt got up to speak and she had a nice lil story to tell, and then when she finished, she faced everyone in attendance and told us that self-medication is not a way to deal with problems and it is unhealthy. As she went on her diatribe, my friend's cell phone rang (the ringtone was "Lovers and Friends" by Lil Jon, the polyphonic version). Some of us burst out laughing. I figured it was my uncle's way of saying, "Kit I love you, but shut the fcuk up!!!"

About three months later, my sister, who'd grieved the hardest being that my uncle's funeral was closed casket, got a tattoo on her arm saying, "R.I.P. Uncle Gary."