With My Pals or On The Bright Side

I suppose I am a look-on-the-bright-side or every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining or you've-got-to-make-the-most-of-a-bad-situation or when-life-hands-you-lemons-make-lemonade sort of person.   I figure even when something is going awry there are positive lessons to come from it.  I've had many firsthand experiences with blessings in disguise.  I know they are real.

 

So, I've been thinking this week about--well, a lot of things--but one thing is that I have decided there are a limited number of good things that can come out of a funeral. 

 

A sense of closure and peace for friends and family of the departed.  A sense of comfort and relief that someone is no longer suffering, if it was a prolonged illness.  And a chance to be with those you love who are still among the living--a bittersweet reunion of sorts to celebrate life that still goes on despite mutual feelings of loss and pain.

I had never in my life seen a 40 oz beer before.  They were ridiculous.

So, while I was back home for Josh's funeral a couple weeks ago I did make some wonderful new memories to cherish with Alli, JD, Ben, Levi, Jessica, Jason, Shay, Wes, Meagan, Glenn, my dad, and on and on. 

Alli's homemade lava lamp--I know it involved a bottle, alka seltzer and a headlamp, but I am not sure about the rest.  Oil, water, and food coloring perhaps?

For me at least, that chance to share and laugh and cry and play and hug and talk and eat together really helped soothe my mournful soul.   That reunion of love and friendship was healing for me.  I'm not ready to say I have peace about the issue entirely, but without that love and friendship I don't know how it would ever be possible.

Time with friends and family is a precious gift.  Time in this life in general is a precious gift--something that should not be frittered away mindlessly.  Its a shame that so often we need something like a funeral to force everyone to remember that.