The Funeral

I had an opportunity this morning to listen to some of the funeral service for Gerald Ford on my drive home from work. It was a beautiful service with moving hymns. I got all teary eyed and bawled most of the way home. I tend to get all caught up in those things, and it could have been anyone, not a president even, that would get me all emotional. I can feel and see the grief in the families hearts.

Another thing that I experience, and am sure some of you do too, is that when attending or watching a funeral, I am at some funeral in the past. It seems I am burying a loved one all over again.

Maybe one of the purposes of this ritual, and other important rituals, like weddings, are to remind us of our own loved ones, and our own experiences with them, and none of us are that different from one another. We all experience the grief, and joy of these major events no matter who we are. I think it's one of the things that bring us all together.

I think that today, we all were burying a loved one of our own, at some point, I know I did.