Today is a very special day-my friend Hank celebrates his birthday. It seems like only yesterday I got a call at my office to hurry to St Luke’s, the boy was arriving. I remember telling Nancy, my Executive Assistant, I was sneaking out the back way so as not to be interrupted. Totally calm and under control. I walked through the work stations and desks, opened the stairway door and found myself in the closet. Of course I came out to a bit of amused laughter. That pretty much blew my cover – yes people were watching. I arrived at the hospital just in time to witness the delivery. So close to our celebration of gratitude, the holiday was dubbed “Hanksgiving.” At a reception this week a friend and one of my message readers said he felt like he knew Hank, I had written about him so often. I guess it is true, thanks for helping me wish him the best day ever!!
At the same reception which followed a celebration of life for my sister in law I had the good fortune to see many of our mutual friends. My brother Bob and Cheri were married for 33 years and have two excellent sons. Just as my grandsons birthday prompts great memories, well lived lives of the departed provide and promote that same opportunity. Everyone recalled that Cheri had a winning smile, sense of style, musical gifts, athletic talent, and enjoyed being in control. Many people reminded me about their recollections of Bob and his love of skiing, golf, and family. Bob loved to say when confronted with a challenge, “we didn’t come all this way to lay up”, a golf analogy for taking risk. There is a point to my rambling, we would be well served to have these discussions with people beyond and certainly before the celebration of life and obituary prompt or inform us.
It was my second funeral of the last week and although I read the obituaries each day, I had not thought of composing my own. Apparently that is a thing people do. A friend from Eastern Idaho sent me a fine obituary this week. The obituary begins that the deceased, an 88 year old woman was reported missing when the Cessna Skyhawk she was piloting was lost over the Gulf of Mexico. Each of her children told a different story of her life and all were equally amusing and outrageous. In the conclusion we learned of a loving mother, grandmother and friend who was quite a prankster. I liked this quote from an obit by a loving son about his mother “she left behind a hell of a lot of stuff.”
Enjoy each day.
Mike