The Promise of Death

Death. It is really quite unavoidable. Inevitable. Inescapable. Guaranteed. And there seems to be a lot of it around me lately.

It started small at first. Some friends of ours lost a cat. Sad but manageable. About a month later, another friend had to have her dog put to sleep. Depressing yet something we can all handle. Then tragedy hit. Our neighbor's teenage son committed suicide. Catastrophic to say the least. A while back, an elder at our church was diagnosed with several forms of cancer and is expected to die immanently. Finally, death came closer to home. Our pastor's twin brother lost his battle with cancer. And as if that wasn't enough Matt's uncle died.

Once a person, or even pet, is pronounced dead a obligatory set of events seems to happen. Wonderfully detailed obituaries are written and printed in newspapers in any town that the deceased may have live in. There are wakes and viewings in which the embalmed body is left lying in a casket made to look like he is sleeping. But best of all, eulogies are written that somehow are supposed to sum up the life of our dearly departed.

People come from miles around to pay their respects and attend a funeral. And now we can't even refer to them as funerals. As if that particular word make the event sound to sad. They are sad. Someone has died. No matter how you spell it, there is no fun in FUNeral. So now we call them “Celebration of Life” gathers, get-togethers or parties.

All of this death has got me wondering why we wait to say nice things about people until they are no longer around to hear them. Why don't we tell people the things we love about them, how they helped us through a tough time or what a blessing they were until it is too late? If we are going to have a “Celebration of Life” shouldn't we do it when we are alive?

I think we should.

I had this great idea. I am going to use my blog to write Pre-U's—premature eulogies. I will share my thoughts, emotions and feelings about people in my life while they are prematurely dead, or still alive. However you look at it.

In order to protect the innocent I will disguise the “deceased's” name. Still, I will try to make the name easy for you to decipher if you know them. For example, my name would become Melissa McQueen. My neighbor would become Crystal Broodmaker. My grandmother is Betsy Malker. Get it?

I hope that not only you get to see your Pre-U posted here but that you will also start sharing eulogies with your loved ones before you have to read it aloud at one of these “Celebration of Life” events.