 Last night I officiated at the memorial of an amazing woman who died too soon. She got sick in June with brain cancer and was gone by October.
Yeah. It was fast and unfair. I didn’t know her. But I got the chance to meet her through her coworkers who organized the memorial. She didn’t have much family but her Work Family was loving, loyal, and bereft. They honored the fact that she wasn’t religious but if she had been her religion would’ve been friendship, shopping, and Sunday brunch. My kinda woman. They hired me to officiate her memorial because they wanted something classy and untraditional, just like her; with a dash of humor because she loved to laugh. And for an evening they let me be a part of their world. It was refreshing. Her friends and colleagues shared stories and memories; painting a picture of a woman who I wish I’d had a chance to know. At the end of the evening, I shared these closing words: Whenever I hear about the passing of someone I love, my grief reminds me of life’s important choices: To do or not do; to be or not to be. And I resolve that with the finite and unknown amount of time that I have I must live larger, fight harder, stand taller, speak truer, listen better, laugh louder, smile brighter, breathe deeper, love sweeter. The greatest honor we pay the departed is to do and be as fully as we can, until we can’t. And now, I’m off to make plans for brunch. (Or dinner, or coffee or - clutch the pearls - a comedy show!) Comments are closed.
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