At the Funeral

I attended a funeral today. In one of the family pews, there was what I imagine was a father, mother, young daughter and her older brother.  You know (and maybe you don't do this) how when you watch people in the park or the airport, you can make up stories about them? This is what I did at the funeral

I watch the mom and her two children.  The son (older child) was very upset, so she picked up her daughter, who was sitting between them, and put her on her lap so that she could move next to the son to comfort him.  The daughter didn't like that, and moved off her mom's lap to sit in the space in the pew where the mom had been.  When the mom tried to put her arms around both of the kids, the daughter picked up her mom's arm and moved out from under it.  This continued for a while with the mom hugging the daughter, the daughter hugging back, and then moving away (and looking away) from her mom. 

It reminded me of the story of the older son in the prodigal son parable.  The mother was trying to provide comfort for both children, but one of them seemed to be resentful to share the mom's attention with the other sibling.

Please remember, I know what I thought about the family isn't real - it's a story in my mind.