A Life Well Lived

Heaven gets a good one today.

He was a man who was loved, so very deeply, by everyone he knew.

I walk into the funeral home. The line is wrapped around the room, it goes out the door, and is almost all the way out to the main door. I look at the faces. There are people of every age, young, old, middle-aged, teenaged.

Inside the room, flowers cover every availible surface.

I look at the picture boards and they tell a rich story. A life lived to the very fullest; pictures of a handsome young boy and his younger brother, a man in his army greens, a young couple happy on their wedding day so many years ago. A father walking his youngest daughter down the aisle; she happily kisses his cheek. A grandfather holding a happy, smiling baby girl.

I walk to the casket, and hug his wife. I tell her how sorry I am. She smiles, but I see a sadness behind her eyes that I will never understand. Sixty-four years with the same person. A lifetime in itself. Nearly 70 years of laughter and tears, hugs and kisses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Waking up next to the same person for 23,000 days, everyday.

What if you never got to say all of the things you wanted to say to the one you loved? What if they never knew how much you truly loved them? What if they never knew just how greatly appreciated, how cared for, how admired they really were?

Go hug your mother. Tell your dad he's awesome. Hold the door for a stranger. Make a difference in someone's life, make them smile. Brighten their life just a little bit. Those little moments make the difference between living your life and a life well lived.

A man holds up a fish in a picture, grinning widely. He and his wife glow with pride as their beloved granddaughter graduates from high school. He hugs his wife as they celebrate 40 years together.

I glance back at the family members. Their eyes hold pain, but tiny smiles curl at the corners of their lips.

It was not a life lost. Today, we celebrated the long, happy prosperous life of a man who always, always knew how much he was loved.