HW 47 - Peer Perspectives on the Care of the Dead

For this assignment i interviewed 2 friends of mine on their prospective on death, based on their experiences. One of my main focus is the effect of one losing a really close relative, and all of my interviewees lost a parent. One of my friends dad died when she was 5, and the other died just last year when he turned 17. The first thing I asked was "how did you recover from that experience?" The answer I got from both wasn't a shock, which was "you never recover" but they basically said, you just keep doing what you normally would do, but you'll always remember that your short of a parent. My second question to them was "What was you're first reaction when you found out about your dad?" Jacey (the one who's dad passed when she was 5), said she knew her father wasn't feeling to well, and was sent to the hospital, but was being told everything would be fine, until he died of a heart attack their. But she was traumatized because "nothing went fine". But she said that over the years her trauma from that has basically recovered, because her father has been gone for most of her life, but she still wonders what life would of been like if he was still around. For my friend Chris, his father died of a kidney failure on a business trip in Brazil, but when he found out about his dads death, he didn't believe it at first, because he saw his dad two days before his death. But the fact of his fathers death, hit him the day he was suppose to come back home, and instead his body was flown in, and the funeral. Even 8 months later, he still forgets his "dad is gone, but knows he is."
My third question to them was "How long did the whole process take (funeral, burial, etc.)? Jacey's dad was buried within four days, but normally they have a funeral and burial within 2 days. For Chris's father, took 6 days, because his body was flown from brazil, than a wake took place, than a funeral.