A Visit to Sto'Vo'Kor

Today my parents re going to Styria to visit the graves of some family members on my Mom's side of the family. They had asked me to join them since my Dad didn't want to drive back home at night. I agreed to join them, not because I particularly care about the custom of visiting graves on November 1st, but it also provided the possibility to meet some of my relatives that I haven't seen in about 10 years.
We left at my parents around 10 am and picked up my aunt Erna in Mürzzuschlag at about 11.30 am. After some catching up we continued to pick up my aunt Lisl at Krieglach and headed to the nursing home in Mitterdorf to visit my aunt Mizzi. After that we had lunch at a restaurant. Took quite some time for the food to get ready, but early enough to make it in time to the cemetery. And that bring us to the title of the post. In the Klingon belief system Sto'Vo'Kor is the place of the honored dead. If you were to ask an Austrian kid in Elementary school where the honored dead are, you probably get as answer: on the cemetery.
We went to he grave of my uncle and met up with my uncle Adi and my cousins Resi, Dorli and Stefan. I haven't seen my cousin Stefan in at least 25 years...if not longer. Then the 'fun' thing with the service on the cemetery started. I really had to pay close attention not to start laughing. I haven't heard anyone trying to convince himself with of his faith with pseudo arguments in a very long time. Of course the Vernon was entirely ludicrous, but actually quite entertaining. After the priest had finished we visited the graves of my uncles Willi and Otto, before heading over to my cousins house for some coffee. We spent about 2 hours there catching up.
While hanging out with my relatives it occurred to me how different the guys on my Mom's side of the family are compared to those of the guys on my Dad's side if the family. The first one are laid back, easygoing and fun to be around with...the latter one not so much, they're kinda stuffy and always tend to look for the needle in the haystack. When I look at myself I do realize that I definitely have both traits and I think that I manage to keep a reasonable balance between the 2 sides. So having been away for over 8 years has definitely its benefits, as you get completely new insights into your own family.
Around 6 pm we said our good byes and dropped of my 2 aunts before heading back home. Halfway through the drive home we stopped at a restaurant to have dinner and by about 9.30 pm we were back at my parents.
So all in all it was a quite enjoyable day and catching up with relatives was quite fun.