In memory

Follow-up to my previous blog entry on May 1:

The memorial for Brian Steele this week was nothing short of amazing. The sheer number of people who came together in his memory was moving, and to see it come together so well gave me this unexplainable JOY.

THIS is what a memorial should be like… celebrating a life and the connections a person brought together, even as we remain saddened that the person is gone from our life.

It got me thinking and wondering: if something happened to me, how would I be remembered? As I take stock of another person’s life — a person who so clearly touched so many people in such a positive way — it makes me want to be better myself. To reach out more to others. To make people smile and laugh.

And when it’s my time to go, I want the people who knew me to throw down like we did for Brian. Dance the night away. Shots all around (be it of alcohol or water!). Laughter right along with tears.

I’ve heard it so often that a funeral should be more a celebration of a life lived than a lamenting a life lost. The memorial this week was exactly that. I liked that… a lot. Celebrate the life that was lived, even as you mourn in your heart.