Weep not for me,
but for yourselves and your children.
Of the funeral services I have witnessed, the saddest, most tragic, are those where one loses a husband or wife.
When a married man loses a child or a parent, there is the wife to share the loss. Together, they can carry on, each supporting the other. To lose a partner is to lose your hopes and dreams; the person you chose to be your life companion.
To face an uncertain future without your dearly beloved by your side is a notion that is hard to accept. Of these partings I have witnessed two, and will remember them always.
When Uncle T lost his wife many years ago, the sound of his anguished voice calling out, as her coffin was rolled into the furnace; the grief on his face, will forever be imprinted in my memory.
Today, I watched the passing of another friend, and the husband she left behind. His parting words to her at the pulpit left not a dry eye in the church. This time, I could not bear to witness the bare sorrow of a man’s final moments at the crematorium. Surrounded by many, supported by all, yet utterly alone.
It is true that when we cry, we cry not for the one who has gone before us, but for the ones who are left behind.
