COME SAIL AWAY; abed nadir

BEGINNER'S INTO TO FINALITY

outfits for this chapter!

Do you have clothes that you only wear for certain occasions?

Like a party dress?

Thanksgiving Day pants?

Or a Christmas morning sweater? It's only natural. When you go through life you figure out what outfits work for different times.

Over the past few years, I discovered that I have a designated funeral dress.

It's a dark navy dress that goes just below the knees. It hugs my body perfectly and looks amazing with heels. Originally, the dress was bought for any formal event but the first few times it was appropriate to wear were funerals. Now, the dress is stuffed in the back of my closet and only worn for the dearly departed. My half-sister Gaby once told me that the dress was almost too pretty to wear to a funeral. She's right. I've attended enough to know that you shouldn't look too pretty at a funeral.

But I have nothing else to wear.

I step into the dress and hold my freshly styled hair as Annie helps me by zipping the back.

We waited nine days before having the funeral. To be fair, we only got the remains back two days ago.

My mother was extremely passionate about being cremated. Almost to the point of being angry when a family member was being buried. She especially hated open caskets. My father always thought that was stupid. That an open casket helps people process death. That seeing their loved one cold in a coffin helps along the grieving process. My mother strongly disagreed.

Gaby thought that it was simpler to have her buried since she thought that it might be difficult to find a place to store the urn.

I assured her that I would take the ashes, as I was my mother's only biological daughter and only living relative.

"We're going to meet your sister, right?" Annie asked.

"Just one of them," Troy commented from the hallway.

I shook my head, "The three older ones should be there. Gaby was just the only one who helped with the funeral."

Annie furrowed her brows, "You have more than one sister? I thought that Gaby was your only sibling."

"Actually, Gaby is one of my half-siblings. I was from my dad's third marriage. Gaby and Terri were from his second marriage. Paula and Mike were from his first. Ana was from his fourth. David was from his fifth. After that, he had a bit of a bachelor phase. I didn't think he was ever going to get married again. Guess I was wrong. He's getting married this June. Her name is something like Jodie or Janie, I don't know. She's really young. A year younger than Paula, that's my dad's oldest kid. I wonder what she thinks about having seven soon-to-be step-kids."

Annie chuckled, "Well, I doubt she'll be doing any actual parenting. Aren't all of you grown?"

"David's fourteen and Ana's sixteen, but I don't really see her parenting them. I don't know her too well but she seems like the country club type."