The last word...

I couldn't sleep last night... kept thinking of my friend Fran who passed away recently. Tossing and turning in that bed and I could see her face and hear her voice and I just couldn't sleep.

In today's mail, a thank you card came from her family, along with one of those little cards from the funeral home that gives her name, date of birth, date of death. "In Loving Memory...." was at the top of the card. On the front, one perfect beautiful red rose.

On the back of the card, under Fran's birth and death dates, is this poem:

I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times and bright sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun.
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.


Happy memories indeed. Fran gave her family and friends so many good memories. Countless, priceless memories. Happy memories that I leave when life is done.

It is still so hard to accept that her life is done. There was so much more that she wanted to do.

And that, right there, is today's lesson for us all.