By Myles Wren
“So sorry for your loss,” said a man Dena sort of recognized.
She reached up from where she sat and took the hand he offered.
“Thank you so much for coming.”
He shuffled to his left, and the same routine played out with Dena’s sister, Valerie.
When he took another step to where their mother was sitting, he crouched down, extended his arm and placed his hand on her shoulder to try to console the crying woman.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful person. You were blessed to have her as your mother.”
She placed her hand over his and nodded without looking up.
Dena looked to her left and saw no one had just entered the funeral home. This was her opportunity. She tapped Valerie’s arm and signaled she was going to use the bathroom again.
Valerie rolled her eyes.
Two steps in to her trip, she grabbed her phone from her bag and clicked on it, but saw there was no activity. Putting it away, she walked past a circle of relatives.
“Dena, honey, you really do look wonderful. You’ve grown up to be such a beautiful woman,” said her Aunt Margie, who was paraphrasing what she’d said about 40 minutes earlier.
Dena smiled politely and continued on to the bathroom.
Looking in the mirror, she had to agree with Aunt Margie. She did look good today. Out came the phone again for a quick photo. [Read more…] about Altruistic Selfies