Hamburg, NY, my grandmother's house

Uncle Mike, 54: I think the most disturbing thing of my life was when I was at my cousin Nicky's funeral a few years ago. We were standing at the reception afterwards and, you know it was a pretty somber affair. Nick was a young guy and everyone was pretty sad and low-key. And then I saw this ... thing ... out of the corner of my eye. And it was a clown. It was a woman dressed as a clown. And then I saw who it was. It was Linda's mother. It was ... I couldn't believe it. She said, "Whoa, I'm sorry I'm late. I got here as soon as I could. I was just at a children's party entertaining and I rushed right over." And I was ... what? I mean. I was so disturbed. I was, like, this is you daughter's husband, your son-in-law's memorial service. You think you could have canceled the children's party and maybe showed up at the memorial service not dressed as a clown. I mean, for three or four days after that, I was just -- shaken.