A Funeral...

I used to make fun of my grandmother going to funerals and considering them "social" occasions. Seemed at her age that was the thing to do to hang with friends. Well I have to admit I had a sort of funeral "reunion" this week. A dear friend from my hometown passed away. We have known each other since elementary school. Jeremy died at the age of 30 having lived since birth with a heart defect. He was extremely smart, fun, witty, dark, sensitive etc...He had a Phd in poetry and writing and had been teaching at a University. It is hard to imagine he is gone.

Many people from high school turned out for his funeral. It was a weird way of reconnecting, but there I was just like my grandmother "socializing" at a funeral. We were passing out email addresses and phone numbers to those we hadn't kept up with. The funny thing is I imagine Jeremy would have been excited to see all those people getting together again. He had so many friends from home, college, work, time he spent overseas. He was loved by so many and so many different people. Poets, band geeks (that's me), drama, athletics etc...He became a true friend to everyone he met. He was hard to forget with the white blond hair he had. In high school he was tall and skinny, but in later years he had put some meat on those bird legs. :)

If I could say I had a boyfriend in high school it could have been him. He was probably one of the only boys I talked to on a regular basis back then. He gave me a kiss in elementary school (ok it was a giant Hershey's kiss and he gave one to all the girls in our class) He was definitely the only boy from high school I kept in touch with after college. I will miss him. I am glad I got to know him and that he considered me a friend. I pray I will get to hear some of his poems in Heaven one day. Here's our picture together our senior year. We were voted "Most Dependable" in our Class of '95 Who's Who. :)
All of this week I have thought about how short our lives can be. I am also grateful that God gave me a healthy baby boy. I know anything can happen along the way, but how hard it must be to live daily knowing your child is sick. Thank you God for healthy babies and thank you God for those babies who are sick but grow up to be the best they can for as long as you give them. They usually teach us the most about life.