Goodbye, welcome, and moving forward

Yesterday I attended the funeral service of my friend that passed away last week. As most services go, it was beautiful and touching and appropriate, and I’m always moved by turn out. Perhaps that should be a given, but time taken come together to appreciate a person, a life, is like no other time we spend. There is nothing like the end of a life, and the celebration of that life, to force examination of your own. While I know this is no secret to anyone, the fact that we’re stopped in our tracks often only by extremes is a strange concept to me. Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious, but if rambling weren’t my specialty, I’d hardly have a blog.

Ironic, also, yesterday another friend of mine, also a coworker, gave birth to a brand new baby girl. In the weeks leading up to the birth, someone put together a pool at work guessing the time, date, gender, etc. of the baby.  Everyone tossed in five dollars, and the person closest would win about a hundred dollars. Of more than twenty people, no one guessed June 2nd. There were guesses for the 1st, and the 3rd but nothing on the second. When the news spread, that the new baby would be born on that day, no one had to say a word.  We knew who chose that day.  And so life was celebrated yesterday, in more ways than one.

It occured to me yesterday, while the thoughts of saying goodbye and welcome flooded my mind, that we treat these moments with such fragility. We are extra tender to those that are hurting. We are careful and quiet with those that are new.  We are more patient, more kind, and more calm. The priority of the situation is crystal clear, and in those moments nothing is more important.

I hope to learn something from this. I hope to keep it with me.  I hope to remember that the fragility of life— the miracle that I can work, run, jump on a plane to a far off place, even think of these words— occurs every day. The fact that I can love, be loved, hold on, let go, move forward, and look back is not just in moments, it is constantly possible. We are always moving within the bounds of a very fragile life, and I think we owe it to ourselves to remember that as we make our way.