First Memorial Service

I've never been to a memorial service until today. My parents had me at a young age, so there haven't really been that many funerals in my history. Today's service was for a good friend who I knew through the gardening program. He was a good man with a good family. He was always on the go (to the point of us having to guess which part of the world he was in every month) and had just finished selling his business off to his two sons. I wish that I could have choked out a few words at the memorial about him being able to smile through pain and laugh through hardship, or how much of a calm and brilliant person he was...... but I just couldn't. I was so damned sad to see that this wonderful presence was gone. Some day soon, I hope to be able to tell his sons that they come from great stock and that I am proud to have known their father, but it'll have to wait a little while.

His time for the "golden years" was cut short, but as discussed at the service, he made the most of the time that he had and enjoyed life. I came away saddened that I had only known him for a few years, but I was reminded that not to make every year a golden year is just crazy. I think that he recognized early, as I have, that we're only on this rock for a short time. Not maximizing the enjoyment of the time we have is, as my grandfather says his father used to tell him at an early age, "burnin' daylight".

On the trip there, I thought of how few times in our lives we gather all of our friends near to say hello and to enjoy their company in one big ball. Weddings maybe and then funerals. This, to me seems a little bit silly. At one of these events, we're too busy putting together the shindig to enjoy it and at the other, we're dead. I told the LW that we should have a party some time soon and celebrate the living in our lives. After saying this, I feel lucky to have heard the LW remark that we'd have to rent out some place, because our yard isn't big enough for all of those people. Enjoy today, it's the only one you'll ever get.