Last night, my wife and I were asking each other some deep questions. Stuff like, "what was the most important lesson you've learned?" or "how would you like to be remembered?" All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started to cry. Awkward right?
For the past year and half or so, I have encountered a lot of death or near death experiences. My mother almost died from an aneurysm, my grandmother who raised me as a child passed away, and in the past 4 months, I had been to around four different wakes and funerals. And finally, a couple weeks back, I officiated my first cremation service. I think all of that began to catch up to me. I began to replay my grandfather wailing as my grandmother was lowered to the earth. I thought back to the wife screaming, "I love you!" as her husband of more than 50 years was shoved into the cremation chamber. I began to imagine saying goodbye to my wife, or worse, her saying goodbye to me and it overwhelmed me. For both her and myself, life is unimaginable without the other.
I was reminded by the wisest man alive, that it is better to go to a funeral than to a party. It's funny because given a choice, I would choose a party any day of the week. But death has taught me a lesson I could never learn from a party: life can be taken at any minute so love your wife, work, and life passionately.
For the past year and half or so, I have encountered a lot of death or near death experiences. My mother almost died from an aneurysm, my grandmother who raised me as a child passed away, and in the past 4 months, I had been to around four different wakes and funerals. And finally, a couple weeks back, I officiated my first cremation service. I think all of that began to catch up to me. I began to replay my grandfather wailing as my grandmother was lowered to the earth. I thought back to the wife screaming, "I love you!" as her husband of more than 50 years was shoved into the cremation chamber. I began to imagine saying goodbye to my wife, or worse, her saying goodbye to me and it overwhelmed me. For both her and myself, life is unimaginable without the other.
I was reminded by the wisest man alive, that it is better to go to a funeral than to a party. It's funny because given a choice, I would choose a party any day of the week. But death has taught me a lesson I could never learn from a party: life can be taken at any minute so love your wife, work, and life passionately.
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