Last Sunday Priscilla and I went to a funeral for a family friend. It was actually my mother’s Godson so I felt like I should go and represent the family. To say it was well-attended would be an understatement.
The service was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. with the visiting hours afterward, a little backwards compared to what I usually experienced but, whatever.
We arrived about 1:15 p.m. and then wound our way through the line before we were stopped in the hallway and told there was no more room in the Chapel and we would have to wait. And there we waited. And waited. A man in front of us noticed my cane and offered to get me a chair which I happily accepted.
Once the service ended you would think the line moved but I guess that’s when everyone in the chapel got up to talk to the family so we continued to wait. To be honest, at one point I thought about leaving but then realized that since we had already invested an hour it would seem like we wasted the afternoon if we left. Plus I really wanted to see the family. We waited and it wasn’t too much longer until we made it to the front of the line.
While waiting I realized a few things:
First of all, I had turned off my phone because I’ve had the embarrassment of my phone going off at a funeral before so I don’t take that chance anymore. (In my defense, I THOUGHT it was on silent.) Going on my phone while waiting has become so automatic for me that I didn’t know what to do with myself!
Secondly, am I the only one who sees many people at a funeral and wonders, “I wonder how many people will come to mine?” I know, selfish, but I can’t be the only one who thinks that.
And most importantly, I wondered why we seem to show up and say nice things at a funeral, yet we never take the time to tell the person how important they are to us while they’re alive. I would assume his family let him know but I’m not sure about everyone else.
Isn’t that always the way? And why don’t we? Do we assume, “He knows what he means to me?” Does he/she? And don’t you like hearing nice things from people out-of-the-blue? It might be just what that person needs to hear that day.
I also think we just get so caught up in our busy day-to-day lives that we don’t get around to it. We may think it but something comes up or distracts us and we never get to it. We think we have plenty of time…. until we don’t.
I think I’ll make it a goal this week that when I have a nice thought about someone I’ll let them know. A text or a call. How much of my time will it actually take?
What do you think? Let someone know they are important to you… before it’s too late.
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