A special whanau time | by Luca

We carried the coffin down the road. It was surprisingly heavy. I was worried that a car would run in to us but my dad said that we would be more than fine. My mum and uncle walked ahead of us all carrying the front.

Once we got to the village hall overlooking Kapiti Island we all took our seats and took turns placing flowers on the coffin. It took a while to get everyone in but we managed it. Then it all started. My uncle gave the first speech then placed a red rose that he had grown with care onto the coffin. We had a few more speeches then my little sister had to be taken out because she was whining, as usual. After a while she came back but then she was more chirpy. Some speeches were a bit boring, I have to admit, and there were some lame jokes but otherwise it was OK.

I listened carefully when it was my mum's turn to speak and noticed a small tear running down her cheek. As soon as she sat back down she burst into tears. At the sight of it my sister did too so I held both their hands and they calmed down a bit.

Some of the information that was spoken I had never heard, like the leader of the squadron that my poppa used to be in told us that he had been in many crazy accidents even in his old age. Nothing could stop him from going to their Christmas dinner only a few days before he died.

All the speeches ended and we sang a song, then my nana put on a slide show with all the photos showing my poppa with someone else or just him. I was in lots so I felt as if a tremendous gift had just been presented to me. We watched the car that took my poppa's dead body to the crematorium drive away and then we went to my nana's for a delicious lunch.