fresnelly

This afternoon I'm attending a funeral for the mother of a very good friend of mine from college. I haven't seen him or the rest of his family for a couple of years due to geographical reasons, but we had the kind of relationship where we could immediately pick things up as if he had never moved away. In fact, the whole family is like that and it's going to be a rough day.

So given the unfortunate circumstances, and since I'm seeing them all again for the first time in a long time, how do I greet them tactfully? What should I say as we shake hands that isn't a completely inappropriate social platitude?

I'll be kicking myself if I say the following:
"How's it going?"
"It's good to see you!"
"Hi, how are you?

I'm so fortunate not to have been to many funerals...

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life