lasting impressions

I just got home from a funeral. The step father of a friend, died this week. I was just thinking that I had the honour of being one of the last people to have a conversation with him. It was an honour because I saw a side of him that from what I heard at the funeral, not everyone got to see. A softer side.

It's amazing to watch people go through the grief process. 100 + people were in the room for the funeral and a few more at the reception. There was a sense of people really being blessed by having known this man, that he had had an impact on many people's lives, that he could make them laugh, even now, just by remembering the crazy stuff he did, and how funny he was. Funerals bring those stories out don't they? The hard stories are there too. The angry words, the fights, the hurts, but those are for another day... not the day of the funeral; so everyone smiles, laughs, and cries for this man that they have loved, raise a glass to him and thank God for him.

It reminded me too, that every conversation is significant. The stuff people remember is not necessarily what you would expect. So much of who we are is communicated through our words and of course our actions, but words were what I heard today. "Bob used to say..." "I remember when he said..." You know, that kind of stuff. Our words do leave an impression... even when we don't think they do.