One of my friends, better yet, one of my mentors, recently lost his mother and eulogized her earlier this week. Here’s part of it, I found it quite touching, and think we all can benefit from reading it.
I always wonder what people will think of me when I’m gone, I hope it can be as nice as this.
A very wise woman by the name of [name removed] helped me to put my mom’s passing into perspective. She said that while we all die, remember that there are two types of deaths; the first is a death filled with tears because someone left this world much too young without ever realizing their potential, like my brother Jean. The second is the passing of someone who lived a long, rich and rewarding life. We may miss them, but they had a chance to live al long life. She also said to remember, we’d all be together before you know it.
Mom raised her family, helped raise her grandchildren and watched them grow into the two fine young men they are today. She and dad were married nearly sixty years, not many people are lucky enough to have that! And best of all, they had a long and active retirement doing whatever they pleased whenever they pleased!
Life may not be the party we expected it to be, but we owe it to ourselves to dance like crazy while we’re here, and boy did mom and dad dance together in this life, and always tried to include the rest of us in the fun!
Three things I’ll always remember about my mama; first, her eyes always lit up when she saw me, from the time I was a little boy, to the present, she was always happy to see me!
Second, she never started an argument that I can recall, that doesn’t mean she didn’t argue she just never started one. She was always more than willing to end an argument though, one way or another; of course she got rid of the strap when we got older!
Finally, mom was always ready to forgive. We sometimes give our folks problems, teenagers seem to know it all, but no matter what, mom always forgave me. One thing in this world I never doubted, mom’s unconditional love and forgiveness, dad’s too! They both did their absolute best for all of us.