The hardest talk

The last couple of days have been hard. After my Grandad died on Sunday, his body was taken away to be embalmed and was then returned to the house. I stayed up all night with some of the family — it's a tradition here that someone keeps the corpse company all night when it is resting at home. I grabbed some sleep on Monday morning, then returned for the laying out — that's another tradition here in Ireland, where people who knew the deceased are invited to come and view the body before the...