8 days, 2 funerals

Yesterday was the second Saturday in a row that I attended a friend's funeral.
Leroy was older, Mary only 59.
Both had been ill off and on for some time (Mary with cancer), but neither had been laid up for a long time. 
Both funerals were packed. They were both quite involved with the community.  My Uncle Matt always called a packed funeral a "good show."

Funerals are hard. To listen to Mary's 20 something year old daughter give a eulogy brought tears to everyone's eyes and to listen to the beautiful folk music played by Leroy's cousins did the same.
We honor a life when we attend a funeral, we contemplate and evaluate our own life, we help others and ourselves through the grievance process, and we say goodbye, at least for now.

I believe we'll see them all again someday.
I have no proof, but I still believe.
I also feel we carry them with us.
As much as we carry the DNA of our mothers, our fathers, our sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, I believe we also carry their spirit.....they are a part of us.
Our friend's spirits become a part of us too.

We come from what was once stardust and when we die, our bodies return to whence we came.
We are set free, body and spirit.

Mary, Leroy and all our loved ones who have passed on are free, free of pain and suffering from their illnesses. They have left us in the physical sense and we shall miss them badly, but they will always be a part of us.
Always