Life at a funeral

A very good friend of mine is getting married tomorrow, and the story of her coming together with her soon-to-be husband is a beautiful testament to how God weaves lives and people in his full time. I witnessed one part of the story earlier this year.

My friend had been talking since last summer about this guy she'd been thinking of, one who she dated many years ago, with whom she felt this returning connection. Over Christmas they met, and the rekindling was confirmed on both sides. There was a plan for another meeting in his home state a couple of months later.

Then my friend's father died, after a struggle of several years with Alzheimer's. I joined her family and their friends at the funeral service - and that's when I saw for the first time the man I knew would be my friend's partner and lover for life.

It's a strange thing to think of in the middle of a funeral, but I kept watching them together and it was clear that they were designed for one another. It was hardly a romantic moment, but perhaps that was part of what made it more clear: this was not about mere attraction and affection, this was about two people sharing the deepest moments in one another's lives. And I said to myself, "I will be telling this story when they get married." (The first thing I said when my friend told me of her engagement a few weeks later? "I knew it, I knew it!!" She said it was the most unexpected response she'd received.)

It's not just the wedding that put me in mind of this story. Today, my sister's new fiance, along with his family and their friends, scattered the ashes of his mother, who recently succumbed after a long and painful battle with cancer. His mother had they joy of knowing of her son's engagement only a few days before she died; and while my parents never were able to meet her, they did join the ceremony today to honor her. It has been a real day of celebration as well as deep emotion: not just of her life, but of the coming together of these two families in my sister and her future husband. And so in yet another way, there is this strong sense for me of the ending of one person's life here on earth becoming the start of a new life and a new future for those who remain after them.

It seems fitting for these two people, who gave such spirits and joy and wisdom among the ones they loved and who loved them. I never was able to know either one; but I feel so blessed to know the legacies they left behind.