A nun's funeral

and nobody was wearing a hat. I couldn't help thinking that as I looked around the convent chapel.
Nobody was wearing a habit either. I doubt any of the nuns own one now.
I am not Catholic but one of my closest friends, a nun, is. One of her housemates died just before Christmas. The funeral was yesterday and P.... had asked me to be there. I knew J... but not well. It was P... for whom I went.
J... was Irish. She came out here in 1952 and never expected to "go home".  When she arrived, as a very young girl, nuns went out only in pairs and only for essential things like a visit to the doctor. They wore habits and were, in many ways, cut off from the world. 
By the end of her life J... was wearing the grubbiest of gardening clothes. She went out and about alone. Her education had first stopped short when she was just old enough to leave school but she was given the opportunity to continue it when she joined the order and went on to university. She was, by all accounts, a good teacher. I know people who were taught by her and they all say that.  She learned to play the violin and reached a level of proficiency which allowed her to teach others that as well. 
Perhaps what is even more amazing is that she had been back to Ireland twice, once alone and once, when she felt unable to travel that far alone, with P.
So would it be a solemn occasion? Would the nuns be wearing habits? Would they cover their hair? Would they be expected to remain in the background?
No. There I had been thinking, indeed writing, about hats yesterday - and there wasn't a hat or a wimple in sight. There was no habit to be seen anywhere. The nun sitting next to me in the chapel was wearing sandals, trousers and a loose top.
Yes, there was a priest to conduct the formal part of the service - indeed three priests who were special friends of J... . But, it was a nun who gave the eulogy and nuns who participated in many other ways. 
We listened to Irish music and we laughed. 
Yes, it was tinged with sadness. I was conscious of how the whole service was filmed so that her family in Ireland could "be there" later.
As the coffin was lowered into the ground I was acutely conscious of how that young girl had left everything behind and was now leaving it all behind again.
And I could hear J... saying, "Now children before you go out to play put your hats on."