Death – Page 25 – Disney Customer Service Keynote Speaker

Twistee Treat To Do

I still have the post-it note up on my office wall, near the phone.

Crazy, isn’t it? I mean the things we think about and the things we do.

So, in the midst of the fairly intense topic the past few days, I’m going to switch gears today, and revisit a topic from ten days ago.

Something like 14 months ago, we thought our beloved Canine Son (Yellow Lab) Carter was going to die, perhaps in less than one week.

I asked our son, “What do you think we should do with Carter before he leaves us?”

“Take him for ice cream at Twistee Treat”, he said, without hesitating.

And that’s exactly what we did. In hind sight, that trivial post-it note probably didn’t need to be written. I mean, what Father would forget to do something as important as honoring this “last request”?

And then there’s the next question, “Why does this adult (50) still have a stupid little post-it note hanging on his office wall?”

Everything Is A Miracle

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein

Attending Kevin’s funeral on Christmas Eve, this quote from Albert Einstein was printed on the cover of the funeral bulletin.

Have you ever been struck with a profound thought or observation, when you least expect it? When it’s presented in such a deceptively simple format – in this case, printed text?

One more thing struck me from attending Kevin’s funeral, but not until this very moment. Kevin’s son, maybe three years old, was there, of course. Estimating there were 300 people attending.

But the only other child I saw was the one in my arms most of the Mass.

The End Was Imminent

Imminent. Looming. Threatening.

This is what we thought October 2008, just over a year ago.

Our beloved Canine Son, Carter, a nine-year old Yellow Lab, was very sick.

Our Vet spotted an unusual sore in the roof of Carter’s mouth during his routine annual exam two months prior.

The sore ate a hole in the roof of his mouth at an alarming rate – what seemed literally overnight. In hindsight, maybe we panicked.

We honestly thought that Carter may not see another weekend and we quickly made arrangements for “one last trip” to our favorite Family vacation spot, Sanibel Island.

We talked with our son (eight) about death. We talked about our favorite Carter memories. We talked about what we’d miss the most about Carter.

We said goodbye to Carter.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Carter is still with us. He still struggles with the complications from the hole when he drinks and eats, but overall, it’s a miracle he’s still here.

Tomorrow, the gift that visit brought us.

Back To Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods.

Does he deserve forgiveness? Will you, if you haven’t, forgive him?

Or is he unforgivable? The lying, cheating, dirty, no good scum of the earth. Is that it?

Tempting isn’t it? Difficult, isn’t it? Will we find it impossible?

All things are possible for him who trusts in the Lord. Is that a figment of my imagination, or did I read or hear about this somewhere?

Okay, so here’s my final answer, and it comes straight from Jesus’ mouth, “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.”

The Joy of Dying

Is there Joy in dying? Is there Joy in death?

There certainly is Joy in birth and obviously Joy in being born. Right?

In the past 30 days, I’ve been exposed to nearly one dozen deaths. And these deaths have involved people close to me, or people close to people I’m close to. Ya with me?

Just yesterday, a good friend told me how peaceful the death of her family member was.

It started with tragic news, and there was little time to accept and deal with the impending reality.

And yet in the end, she spoke of it being Peaceful. Joyful.

Perhaps, with a little (or a lot) planning, death will be something we don’t fear, but something we view as simply part of life. Not to be feared, but to be embraced.

Maybe then we can look forward to it. Joyfully.