Living the Dream

Living the Dream

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Your life Song


I will never forget some of the funerals I attended when I worked in the industry.  I've been to a BUNCH of funerals.  Young people, old people, popular people, homeless people, loved people, unloved people.  I've been to hundreds. 

Two stick out in my mind.  Two.  Not my dad's, not my grandma or grandpa's.. The first is Laynie's, but the second was an almost 100 year old man that I had never met.  It was my job to make sure things ran smoothly and I handed out water, and kept the people moving, comforting and in charge.  On this day, at this particular funeral, there were tons of kids.  Most of the time, parents leave the little ones at home.  Sometimes I like that because little kids don't get funerals.  But at this particular funeral, every little child that was there, called the deceased, "pap and grandpap".   They knew exactly why they were there and they all stood and wept at grandpap's grave.  They loved and cherished and missed their grandpap.  Little bitty ones.  I don't see that often.  Most of the little ones aren't too familiar with the older generation.  A little scary, with the old ones being able to take their teeth in and out, and they smell alittle different, and tend to be forgetful.  Usually there is a gap of generations.  Not at this funeral.  Great grandchildren as young as 3, wept for their pap.  I wept along with them.  It was a moment for me.

This family didn't have very much money, they didn't drive nice cars and buy the most expensive stuff at the funeral home or cemetery... but they brought handcrafted quilts, pictures and love letters to shower on grandpap.  I bet you a million dollars, that grandpap never brought work home with him.  I bet he never worked late and on weekends, and chased the mighty dollar.  Because something was so important to him... his family. 

All I know is a very rich man died the week grandpap died.  The rich man lay in the same "prep" room as grandpap.  It didn't matter that one had millions of dollars, and grandpap didn't have much.  They were both worth exactly the same as they lay there cold and still.    The difference was that the rich man had plenty of flowers, and very few visitors.   Grandpap had love letters and tears.   Who would you want to be?

We have one chance in this life to get it right.  Johnny Cash did many things wrong.  He loved a married woman, he abused alchohol and pills, he neglected his children, yet he was "rich".   He realized at the end of his life, that none of that mattered... it was an empire of DIRT.    He found the only one that could turn life around for him, and he chose Jesus Christ. 

I don't like country music, but I love this Johnny Cash song.  It strikes a deep chord in me, and makes me look at myself inside out.  What will my life be about when I am gone??  What will people say about me?  Oh she threw a good reunion?   She knew more jokes than anyone I knew? 

We have one shot at life.   What is your life song?  Think about it.   Now watch this again.

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