Yesterday I attended a funeral. Marv’s father passed away earlier in the week. In February of last year, Marv moved to North Carolina to get a job at Cisco. Because of this, he wasn’t here when it happened, but was able to get on a flight back to SLC very quickly.

I know Marv fairly well at a professional level. We have also spent a fair amount of time together socially. He was one of the kind souls that helped put the sprinkler system into our front yard. I have never met his immediate family, but I did meet one of his cousins at a party he held in X-Wives Club.

I’ve never seen Marv visibly shaken before. He’s a very large and tall guy, the kind that rarely has anything to fear in life. He’s also one of the more intelligent people I know, so it’s not really all that surprising that he’s shaken. From stories told at the funeral, I gather he is a great deal like his father. This is a very tough time for him, and in some ways it seemed that all the poeple at the funeral that were hugging him and shaking his hand with their sympathies were making it even harder. My thoughts go out to him and his family as they deal with this tragic loss.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose someone that is very close to you. The only death that has directly affected me was my grandmother, someone we only saw once or twice a year. I was 18 at the time. Males at 18 are very self-centered and fairly oblivious to things that should be important, so it didn’t really have any profound effect on me.

The funeral took place at the First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. It’s that large and pretty orange building on South Temple and C street. I always feel out of place in a church, though I have to say that the feeling was much less intense than it is in a Mormon church. They also serve food that’s a lot better than the usual Mormon fare.