I'm not a big fan of funerals.

[MineralMan]

Not because of the religious nature of most of them. I just hate to see people die. Still, my wife and I seem to be attending more and more of them. I'm 73, and she's a young lady of 62 years. There's lots of her family around here, and old friends of hers, so we find ourselves sitting in various churches and other places to attend funerals.

Occasionally, we also attend funerals of people who aren't family or close friends. My next door neighbor's father died, so we went to his funeral mass, just to be neighborly. My neighbor and his family were pleasantly surprised to see us there, since we actually had never met his father.

Another such funeral was one for a man we spoke to every day, while walking our dogs. He was in his 90s, and was always out on the front porch when we walked by of an afternoon. We always exchanged a few words and he always patted our dogs on the head. He wore a Minnesota Twins cap. Always. He knew statistics about the Twins, and always had something to say about his favorite team.

Well, we noticed his name in the Sunday paper. In the Obituaries section. Every Sunday, there are at least four full pages of paid obituaries. I read them, just to make sure my name isn't in there, every week. Anyhow, our old dog walk friend had died, and the location, date, and time of the service was in there. So, we went.

We had met a couple of his adult children and some grandchildren of his on our walks. Our regular mail carrier was his grandson, which we learned from him after the funeral. Again, people were surprised to see us there, but glad to see us, too. In his honor, I was wearing a brand new Minnesota Twins cap - the only one on anyone's head at the funeral, which got lots of comments because he was a loyal fan. When we left after the service, I left that cap on the table where people signed the book to show they had come.

I don't like funerals. But, I go to them from time to time. The point is to remember someone and to show that you remember, even if you aren't family or some kind of close friend. We go to many funerals where we do not know the guest of honor, but know someone well to whom that person mattered a great deal.

Most funerals I go to are religious ceremonies. I don't mind. If religion is important to someone or someone's family, then that makes a lot of sense. I don't care what anyone's religious beliefs are, especially if it's their funeral I'm attending. That doesn't matter.

Maybe some of those people would come to my funeral, but there won't be one. Instead, sometime later, my wife will have a gathering for people who knew me, know her, or who somehow have some sort of connection. There will be no prayers or homilies. Just some food and drink and telling of stories. Now, that kind of funeral I like just fine. It is an atheist's funeral.