Oct 16 2002
Celebration?
Did I mention that all those errands the other day were literally run? Meaning that I walked everywhere, except when gravity got the better of me. So the environment wasn’t hurt, just me. My left knee isn’t bad, but the right one looks and feels like hell. I have been treating it with tea tree oil and Burt’s Bees Res-Q Ointment but it’s still in glorious and painful Technicolor.
But this minor physical ailment is nothing compared to the pain of my coworker C, who lost her father last week. The funeral was yesterday, and I couldn’t help but remember how I felt on the day of my father’s memorial service, namely, that I wanted to run down the street screaming. So I thought of C and wished her the strength and courage she needed yesterday and for the rest of her life.
You have probably noticed by now that death is never far from my thoughts. Once the shadow has fallen over your life, it’s pretty much impossible to ignore the fact of its existence. So I was thinking about my Dad’s service and how the stated purpose was to be a celebration of his life. But how can you feel like celebrating when the person you love enough to attend their funeral is gone forever?
It’s like Jeff Goldblum’s character said in The Big Chill, “They throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can’t come.” So my question is, why don’t we celebrate each others’ lives while we still have them? Why are we more likely to gather together when someone is gone than when they are there to hear how much we care about them?