Everyone is welcomed by a smiling and familiar face. Your loved ones linger for a while When a member of your family dies you may feel their presence for a while. Immediately after death they are very close to physical reality. Those who die are often worried about their families and keep trying to interact even though their loved ones can no longer see them. They are worried about the farewells they did not get to say, business left unfinished, all the things cut short by death.
Most people pass onwards reasonably quickly.
There are always helpers to assist them and most religions have after-death ceremonies designed to explain to the dead that it is time to move on, and also to make sure that they have passed and are not stuck in between as ghosts. In Hinduism, there is a thirteenth day ceremony in which the favourite food of the deceased is cooked and put out for the crows. This may seem absurd to the modern mind, but actually it serves a very useful purpose. Crows and dogs can see spirits which is why they are associated with Yamaraj , the God of Death. When their favourite food is laid out, a nervous spirit who is still there, will hover around it and the crows will leave it alone.