Written on our way back home to Denver after a trip to Chicago for a family funeral…

 

“When I come to the end of the road and the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom filled room. Why cry for a soul set free?

 

Miss me a little, but not too long, and not with your head bowed low.

 

Remember the love that we once shared. Miss me…but let me go.

 

For this is a journey we all must make, and each must go alone. It’s all a part of the Master’s plan, a step on the road to home.

 

When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to the friends we know, and burry your sorrows in doing good deeds.

 

Miss me…but let me go.”

 

by Unknown Author

 

We laid a special soul to rest today. He inspired many to live more generous and kind lives, and was deeply loved by family and friends. May we be so fortunate to live and be loved like he was.

 

Hug the ones you’re with.

 

 

Having had my various challenges with my own, “family” is something I’ve sought to define for many years (all of my adulthood, really). And the past 40 or so hours have given me new inspiration, hope, and gratitude for my own biological family, mine of choice and my husband’s which are now mine, and that of my family of friends.

 

Funerals make us ponder not only the death of the loved one, but also of our own death and, more so, I think of our LIFE.

 

How am I living?

 

How do treat others?

 

How do I love?

 

How am I loved?
 

I well up again when the thought creeps in of losing my own sibling, or my spouse, or one of my dearest friends. The knot in my stomach knocks my wind out and brings tears. His weeping sister makes me cry. My tearful husband’s silent sadness stings my heart. I want to hug everyone. I want to tell them I’m so sorry and I want them to know I mean it, really mean it.

 

I also want to thank them, to thank them for letting me in, for allowing me to witness how they ALL rise up to support one another. Flaws and all, ones I don’t even necessarily know about, but I assume are present because they’re human, and they’re wonderful people. They hold each other. They cry. They laugh. They cry some more. And they’re TOGETHER. We’re together.

 

And any of us should be so blessed to live in such a way that friends and family gather and weep and celebrate like this for us. In his life, certainly he inspired more people than he probably ever knew, but so, too, in his passing has he given light, love, and hope to others.

 

* picture is from one of my favorite spots at Camp Eagle in TX, and it always makes me think of the Tree of Life.