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I thought I'd come back to this thread and follow up with what happened. My uncle died on Sunday, and we drove up to the Scranton area on Wednesday (through a yucky snowstorm.) The kids behaved really well, and seemed to be just fine with everything. He is being cremated, so I thought there would be just an urn in the funeral home. Instead, it was an open coffin, and we only got about ten minutes of advanced notice to let the kids know what to expect. Our little boy was fairly giddy/rambunctious at the funeral home for a moment or two. I think it was a combination of having been stuck in a car for the previous 7 hours, and being overwhelmed by seeing all his relative AND his first dead body. Plus it was past his bedtime. But it was OK. There was lots of talking/greeting going on, and I don't think anyone noticed except us.
The next day, at the funeral home, the church service, and the church basement lunch afterwards, both kids were angels. I was really proud of them.
It was a sad time, but really good to come together with the family, and I'm glad we all went. It was also appreciated by others that we were all there. Over all, a very positive experience.
So once again, I'm impressed at how resilient kids are and how they just get things. They weren't freaked out about the death at all.
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