It depends how you see things...

Funerals are usually seen as a sad time. 'letting go" of your loved one can be hard, especially if it's not expected... But this type of event also does something very incredible to people... it brings family together.

Albert (his brother) and his family came from El Paso Texas, other family members came from Arizona. Carmen, Karla and Roxanne came from Detroit. Even if one's family lives 15 minutes away, you can go weeks without seeing them. Michele lives in Huntingon Park, and I drive passed there on a regular comute to Los Angeles and I hadn't seen her or Isaiah since December and before that, almost a year had gone by. Ashley (the lil' girl in the white dress), lost her father and now her father's father almost within two years of each other. And, while they can never be replaced; she can also see that her family is expanding, she has more cousins (Lina, Bryant and the twins) to be by her side as she gets older.

The only people, who God himself will have to console is my grandparents. Only time can heal such pain. My grandfather said, "There is no great pain, then to bury a child". He said that two years ago at his grandson's funeral. Just as they were healing from such an ordeal, their son dies... last week when I went to visit my grandmother, she seemed at peace saying, "He is with God, and I know where he is at and that he is safe."