A funeral tries to give a language to unspeakable pain, unspeakable hope, unspeakable love, unspeakable heartbreak. All these things that are so hard to put into words we pull together into metaphor and symbol and ritual and call a funeral.

They engage all the senses to express the distinctive character of the person honored-how they lived, whom they loved, what they learned…and taught us, what kinds of things made them laugh, and what their lasting legacy ought to be.