Celebrating a Life Well Lived

I believe in celebrating a life that was lived.  Losing a loved one is devastating, the desire to celebrate is not in your mind but creating a living memorial of a life well lived is important.  A timeline of living, a testament to life, a focus on the life and not the death of your loved one.  There will be so much grief to come.....gather friends and family, listen to the stories of a part of your loved one from another perspective.  There is great comfort in this celebration of life.


Play the music they loved, have the items they adored, surround yourself with the people in their life, laugh, toast, celebrate for they lived, they loved, they were here on this Earth, a footprint was made and it is reason for joy.

There was music playing, "The Last Waltz" by The Band, a leather coat, a motorcyle helmet, a stuffed Curious George, a gold Sacred Pig ring all reminders of a man, a husband, a son, a father......

"We've been through
Some things together
With trunks of memories
Still to come
We found things to do
In stormy weather
Long may you run."

Our good friend and neighbor John spoke at Steve's funeral.  I will never forget his words, they were heartfelt and true.  I don't have the exact words but this is the essence of what John said.....Had the Whitmarsh's not moved in next door I would never have known Steve.  We were very different and our paths would not have crossed.  Steve would come out of the house dressed in leather and roar up the road on his Harley, I would come out of the house in spandex and glide up the road on my bicycle.  Steve worked on his Harley, I built a solar hot dog cooker.  Because of Steve I started skiing.  He insisted we carry walkie talkies to communicate.  One day at West Mountain Steve swooped down at me from the mountain....John I've been calling you on the radio, you didn't answer.  He reaches into my jacket pocket, pulls out the walkie talkie and says 'you might want to turn it on!'.  Off he went, shaking his head, disbelieving I was so stupid.  Steve impacted the lives he touched, good or bad there was an impact.

So we remember, we honor, we celebrate, we grieve, we cry, we get angry, we smile, we laugh.......in the end it's the memories that sustain us.  I will live a life worth celebrating.....how about you???

"In the end it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years." ~Abraham Lincoln~

Day 78 of 365
Celebrate life......K