Congratulations on Impressing Everyone at the Funeral!

It’ll feel appropriate because they’ll all be wearing suits. Solving problems, making the world a better place. Grandpa would’ve liked that last part.

He fought at Normandy, at San Mer Eglise. After he received a medical discharge following Operation Market Garden he funded a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial and psychological support to people affected by the war. He raised your mom and dad and, whenever he was asked to do it, you and your brother too. And he did it all in what he called his “uniform,” a black suit with a tie, mostly undone. Sometimes he’d take off his jacket and roll up his sleeves, but only under the most dire of circumstances.

So you don’t think he’d mind the fact that you’re spending most of his funeral playing Elite Beat Agents on your DS. Not at all. Maybe if you weren’t so good at it. But every once in a while someone will come over to you, look over your shoulder and nod at you in what you take to be an approving fashion. You’ll know that it’s because you’re so good at this game, so good at mourning. You’ll know that grandpa would be proud if he could see you there, beating the shit out of a video game at his funeral while your family occasionally watches on with some sort of emotion you have trouble decoding.

Congratulations on Impressing Everyone at the Funeral!