WITH FAITH AND FINGERS CROSSED

On Friday I attended a Salvation Army funeral.  It was for a retired officer who I knew through once working with the Salvation Army.  It was very much like a Catholic funeral.  And not at all like a Catholic funeral too.

Having said that, what I want to focus on in my blog today, is not so much the funeral, but on a quote shared during the funeral that really really struck me.

I will give you the quote.  Then I'll give you a poem I wrote in the early 1990's that reminded me of the quote from the funeral.

I am paraphrasing the quote from the funeral:

"When someone dies, or is dying, it's like we are watching them sailing on a boat on the ocean.  Farther and farther away, until they slip over the horizon and we can no longer see them anymore.  There he goes, we'll say. On the other side of the horizon they'll be saying, "Here he comes." 

Here is the poem that reminded me of the funeral quote above:

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE
At a little restaurant
Off a street called Duval
He proposed a toast
To "Castles in the Sand"!
The night was thick
With hints of hope
And souls and southern winds.
We sat together
You and I (my ex-husband)
Our little table challenged time.
The only witness to our promise
Was dawning somewhere 
-- On tomorrow!
(Cb Key West, 1992)

I love the idea that death (and maybe marriage) is a funeral too.  

I love the thought that everyone I loved and knew will be standing on the beach and dock (waving!) and welcoming me with smiles and hugs and all the love we couldn't show each other on the other side of the horizon.  

With faith and fingers crossed.

Cb

Amen

Image credit dreamstime.com

Today is also the last weekend of summer 2021!

There it goes

Here it comes

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