It was a good day . . .

My cousin Beulah

This morning I drove to St. Peter, Minnesota, to attend the funeral mass of my eldest cousin. Beulah was a cousin on my father's side of the family. She was the first grandchild for my paternal grandparents, her mother being one of the older children of their ten. I am the third youngest grandchild; my father was the youngest of the ten. I guess Beulah felt more like an aunt than a cousin—her three kids were my contemporaries. She was a very special woman, fun to be around. She worked at the Dayton's department store in Southdale (Edina, Minnesota) for many years.

As I have mentioned before, the beautiful part of a funeral or memorial service is the gathering of family and friends. I was pleased to see other cousins, whom I rarely see any more. It was a joy to visit with them today.

Following the mass, the generous church ladies provided a very nice lunch for the guests. While seated at a table with several of my cousins, I mentioned having been to this church several years ago for our "adopted" Uncle Tony's funeral (actually not this very building, as the original Catholic church in St. Peter was destroyed in the 1998 tornado). Back then I remembered enjoying the lunch and asking one of the church ladies for the recipe for the hot dish they had served. After a few minutes, she returned to my table with the recipe. The name of the recipe: Funeral Hot Dish. I made that dish many, many times for my family—often at their request. Ask any of my kids the name of it, and they'll say, "We called it Funeral Hot Dish." Well, you guessed it, they served it again today!