I attended a funeral of someone I didn’t know this past week. The woman who died, under very tragic circumstances, was the daughter of my father’s best friend. My Dad could not make the funeral because he was caring for his ill wife in another province, so my sister and I went on his behalf. They only thing I knew about this lady, was that she was the mother of three and that, at 49, she had killed herself.
I had a picture of a very sad character, isolated from others, with children who were quite likely emotionally stunted. Was I wrong. The church was packed with people who had been touched in some way by this lovely lady. She was described as loving and kind, fun and creative. Her 17 yr-old son gave an eloquent eulogy in which he described a woman who struggled at times, but who was a wonderful mother in so many ways. One of her best friends also spoke, and the sorrow she felt while she read her notes was palatable. She described a lively force of person, who fought her darkness as best she could, but eventually succumbed to the void that is depression.
While she lived this beautiful person was part of a community that celebrated her being, even when she could not. They carried her when she fell, nursed her when she was weak and mourned for her when she was lost. They are to be commended but so is the woman herself, who for over forty years persevered through her own bleakness to give others love, kindness and warmth.
The soul takes flight to the world that is eternal… invisible. But there arriving she is sure of bliss, and forever dwells in paradise.
May you find the bliss in your new paradise.
