Blooper Reel

[lydianstone]

I served at my first funeral yesterday. It was a "nice" service, so far as a funeral can be, and the church was pretty full. I liked seeing so many there to support the family and share their grief. This was a doubly hard passing. The deceased was 38 years old, autistic and lived in a local group home. The family is very close and stayed very

Comments

[aliskye]

I would share your frustration in that situation. I would certainly want to know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing for the service and would not want any surprises.

In the other situation, I think I'd rather have some one deal with it with a little humor than anything else.

And I don't think these are stupid mistakes, just experiences some of which will never be repeated and some of which will not doubt happen again.

[lydianstone]

Kate, I mis-stated the above about the funeral being just like any other service. What I meant was she said *my responsibilities as a LEM* were the same as any other service. It wasn't quite as clueless as how I put it. Still, she asked me to come early to walk through everything and it ended up as it always does with her- a brief explanation of some but not all of what I needed to know. I hate that sinking feeling of seeing a part of the liturgy coming up an realizing I don't know what I'm supposed to do. She is a kind woman but a very ineffective teacher *for me.* I know this though, and I really need to be more proactive in asking questions about particulars. Next time, I will be.