Second in a row

I celebrated a Burial Office today at Trinity, Milford.

The one before was at St. John's, Waterbury. 

What they had in common was they were both funerals for a parent with an only child.

Since I am an only  child, they both reminded me of burying my parents.

Those two deaths--many years apart--we two of the few occasions I have ever wished I wasn't an only child.

(I tell the joke that whenever I begin to feel cheated by being an only child, I simply have to talk to someone with siblings!)

People were with me for both my mother's and my father's funerals, but none of them were going through the profound and painful regrets I was experiencing. The good times were very good with my parents, but their deaths caused me to remember how many times I disappointed them.

It would have been supportive to have brothers and sisters to share that with--they would have understood....