Just for the record, I hate funerals.
Death is a miserable fact of life and one that we all must face. I don’t look forward to the time when my Dad will pass away. However, I have had the honor of living long enough to develop a good relationship with my dad. A good enough relationship with him that we’ve had the discussions about how he feels about prolonging life after the quality of life is gone. We’ve also had a discussion about funerals so what happened today really shouldn’t surprise me.
You see, my Aunt died recently, and today was her funeral. The person officiating the ceremony seemed a little nervous, perhaps it was his first funeral. At any rate, as he was wrapping up the ceremony, my father leaned over to a long time friend and said “When you officiate my funeral I want you to say ‘He lived fast, hard and enjoyed every minute of it… and then he died'” -edit- Just to be clear, my Dad doesn’t live fast, he’s one of the calmest people I know, thinking through things instead of spur of the moment actions. My Dad doesn’t “live hard”, although I’m sure he’s experiences hard times. But I do know my Dad has enjoyed his life and continues to do so. His statement was an indication of how much time he thought should be spent on a funeral. He told me one time that what he wanted in his obituary was simply a listing of born, husband of, father of and died. -edit-
There are many reasons I love my dad, and that is one of them.