One of the relatively minor problems with today's society is that of a blended family. I'm in one, since my wife & her ex share a son... who has a sister (Little Miss Field Day) on our side, and a brother & a sister on his Dad's side. Yes, technically he's my step-son, and technically their his half-siblings, but we don't think of them as such, more as semi-distant cousins these days. (What happened between my wife & her ex happened long before I came along, and these days, we all get along very well, but that's another story).
So that sets the scene for yesterday's bizarre little event, which is why I wasn't around the bulk of the day.
My son's mother-in-law passed away on Saturday (cancer). Her funeral service was yesterday.
Now strictly speaking, I didn't need to be there. I was only related to her via two marriages, and to be perfectly honest... well, I never thought she was that nice a person. At the very least, I didn't care for the way she treated us, starting before the wedding. But that's not important; Bud needed us, so we were there. As it turned out, the only ones from his side of the family were us, his Dad & (step)mom & his other sister (his brother was home watching HIS grandfather, who's 100 and not in great shape)
So, now you have the setting for the scene. Time is roughly noon. The Catholic Mass is over (I really hate sitting through these), it's time to take the casket to the grave site for the final rites. We walk out to the car, get in the funeral procession, we're there in 5 minutes. Temperature about 71, skies cloudy.
We get there. Park. And just as we're about to step out of the car... it starts to sprinkle and the wind picks up a little. No big deal, grab an umbrella and head over.
And the skies open. Winds pick up, several umbrellas get torn apart, gravesite flowers are being blown around, and the rain is coming down in buckets. Even had a little hail storm. Back of my one good suit? Totally soaked to the skin. The boss not so much, but then, I was blocking most of it. Temperature was down to about 50 in a matter of 30 seconds.
We get through the ceremony, hustle back to the cars... and as soon as everyone reaches their cars, the winds die down, the rain stops, the clouds clear, the sun comes out.
I checked with work later. Whatever happened, only happened around us; the rest of the area saw nothing.
I figure someone or something was trying to tell us something. What, I'm not sure. (The boss figures that the departed was getting in one last little lick.)
Epilogue: When we got back to the church for the wake, the boss's ex made a few cracks about the weather. The daughter-in-law & her brother & sister were NOT amused.
