Every week I hear a favorite new thing someone’s experienced at a funeral. Tonight it was Frank Sinatra playing at a funeral service (in a church, no less.) (And I don
‘t mean Frank himself, just to be clear.) And later, Dean Martin was played. People got up and shared wonderful stories, and there was so much music, and the wonderful gal telling me this story was so lit up remembering it. She said it was unlike any funeral she’d ever been to. She said it was just overflowing with love. Not sadness or tragedy, just a whole family’s outpouring of love and affection for their matriarch. And not depriving themselves of the joy they shared as a family together while she was still alive (because of the “this is a funeral, we must be mournful” rule), but rather keeping that joy alive as they said goodbye and thank you.
How about we start picturing new kinds of goodbyes. Ones that are totally infused with with LIFE and LOVE and GRATITUDE. Goodbyes that take our breath away with the joy that person brought us, and leaves with us now.
Imagine what singer or band you might want blasting at your goodbye party.
Don’t have boring funerals. LIVE THEM UP!