Too many funerals

    My friend from high school Paul Lacoste died a week ago and the funeral was today. Apparently he had skipped a year somewhere along the line and was more than a year younger than the rest of us, something I never knew. We had never been extremely close, but we got along. He dated my high school girlfriend after she broke up with me, but it was all perfectly amicable. I never held it against either of them. (I was going to college 600 miles away at the time.)
    In more recent days, he had trouble. His marriage broke up and he was living in a men's shelter, then a Motel 6. One infers that drinking was involved. Because we're of the same political orientation, he expressed an interest in Drinking Liberally and made sporadic efforts to come to a meeting, but only made it to one, about a month ago. He seemed unmoored, adrift, in disarray. He also seemed that way on Facebook, often responding in ways that didn't strictly speaking make sense. He did not, however, seem on the verge of doing anything drastic.
    I don't know what happened; I may never know. He may have drunk himself to death or committed suicide more directly. The only thing clear from the pastor's homily is that it wasn't natural causes. He said that Paul had never recovered from his mother's death in 2000 nor from his father's hospitalization and incapacitation in 2010. ("Boy I heard that!" I couldn't help thinking.) About the only difference between me and him is that I have a sense of humor, not in the "Boy is he funny!" sense but in the sense of finding all aspects of life both absurd and humorous. Long may it wave.
    Being in a Roman Catholic church was no weirder nor less weird than it was when I was in one regularly. I wish they would have gone easier with the incense, though. It was neat to see altar girls, which I doubt we had back in the day. And it was cool to learn that "How Great Thou Art" is a little older than I thought, and the hillbillies in question were from a different set of hills. Insert your favorite Swedish Chef joke here.