Wednesday, August 4, 2010

A Year Has Passed ...

A year ago today, Dad was laid to rest. The "firsts" are behind us now: the first birthday; the first Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter without him. The first Father's Day without our earthly father with us to celebrate the day. Ah, but we know he is at the Ultimate Party. He sure wasn't perfect, but he was a man of faith.

I bought a little book, "Forever Remembered" compiled by Dan Zadra and Marcia Woodard. It contains comforting words. One such reading is this: "It has been said that there are several ways to mourn. One is to weep; and we have done our share of weeping. Another way to mourn is to sing: to sing a hymn to life, a life that still abounds in sights and sounds and vivid colors; to sing the song our beloved no longer has the chance to sing. We sing the songs of our beloved; we aspire to their qualities of spirit; we take up their tasks as they would have shouldered them." -Rabbi Jack Stern, Jr.

And so we carry on.