Funerals and crap

Last Saturday I went with my father to a funeral for his cousin.
The Cousin was 76 and died in bed.
His son, who lived with him, found him in the morning. His feet were on the floor and it looked like he sat up and fell back down on the bed.
His wife had passed away 3 months earlier from cancer and he had some health issues also.
I felt horrible for the 2 "children" left behind and their families.
Imagining what it would be like to lose both parents in such a short time I started crying at the funeral.
Even though I didn't really know the man that well, I was crying at his funeral because I could imagine what his children, who are my age, must be going through.
People who were at the funeral, who knew him all there lives were probably wondering who I was.
I saw my fathers other cousins who I haven't seen since my parents 50th wedding anniversary party and some others I haven't seen in over 20 years.
My mother didn't attend the wake or the funeral because she had a touch of the intestinal flu..and my father just told people she wasn't feeling well so they were all concerned.
One of the cousins said he was having a bad day the day before and said that he felt like climbing in next to the deceased cousin to join him...right in front of the deceased cousin's brother.
So they all started wondering, aloud, who would be the next to go, eying each other up and down, hoping that it would not be them next time in the coffin.
The funeral luncheon was in the downstairs of a banquet place.
It was cold and damp and the beamed ceiling seemed low which made the room dark and cave like.
My cousin Gee, who is my age and mildly mentally retarded, was all excited that there was a buffet and announced that she was going to go up as many times as she wanted to get more food. The luncheon was her major reason for being there as the food was probably better than what she usually gets at the group home.
She tends to get rather loud and obnoxious and tries to dominate the conversation so my father & I tried to sit at a different table than her and my uncle. But as luck would have it all the other tables filled up so we ended up sitting at the same table as them.
Gee wasn't too bad during the luncheon as she was busy stuffing her face with food...and she did go up for another plate full. My uncle also went up for seconds and he had the equivalent of another full dinner when he came back. Some of the cousins made comments to him about the amount of food he had on his plates, but he didn't seem to care. I figured that he just ate my mother's lunch for her.
We had the usual buffet fair, antipasto salad, fruit salad, baby red potatoes, corn, rolls, roast beef and turkey. The turkey was so tender and moist.
Before we left I went to use the Ladies room as it would be about an hours ride home. Gee asked me where I was going and decided that sounded like a good idea and that she would go there too.
Luckily we were the only ones in there so we both were able to find an empty stall. I went about my business and suddenly became aware of loud grunting and groaning noises coming from Gee's stall.
OMG.... I stifled the laughter which was rising in me and quickly finished what I was doing, washed up and got the heck out of there. I didn't know if I should have asked her if everything was alright or told her to keep down the noise or what.
Ignoring it was probably the best thing to do.
A few days later I was out shopping with my daughter and had to use the ladies room. As I went in a teenage girl was washing up and quickly hurried out of there and I knew why...the smell was horrendous ...
I had to go and didn't think it would be wise to wait as I didn't want to wet myself so I went into the first empty stall and put my turtle neck up over my nose, put half a roll of toilet paper over the seat and set about my business....then I heard it!
From the next stall came grunts and groans and heavy breathing...WTF!! can't people take a dump lately without making noise. I then wondered if there was someone else in the stall with the grunter...but it only sounded like one grunter so it wasn't a case of hanky panky but poopy goopy.
SO it wasn't the teenage girl but whoever it was in the last stall that stunk up the place... I got the heck out of there as fast as I could.
My daughter decided that she had to use the restroom..I told her good luck.
Ok, so is it normal for people to grunt and groan when they are taking a crap...or am I, and my family abnormal for not making noise?

Funerals always make me think about my life and how little time we actually have on this earth. The people we take for granted that will always be there and that we depend upon could be taken from us in a matter of moments. Life is fragile.
My daughter and my father are like oil and water, they argue about everything. I try to tell her that she should be nicer to her grandfather because someday she may regret how she talks to him....
totally without respect...
she can be nasty.
My father's health isn't that great and he is 75, so you never know...he could live to be 100 or die tomorrow.
I know it bothers him that she is so disrespectful. They are actually quite alike, both temperamental artists who both think they are right.

She will have to learn the hard way that sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right.