Posted by Elizabeth (65.31.190.231) on December 15, 2001 at 22:46:50:
Why, when there's a funeral, are people willing to take time off work and fly somewhere (home?), spend money on huge flower displays, etc.? Why aren't those same people using that time and money to be with their loved one while he/she is still alive?
This has never made sense to me....
'sorry, can't make it...have to work, kids have activities, maybe next year....'
'no, honey, we can't afford that trip this year - not if we want that new car/house/boat'
'but roses are too expensive'
'flowers just die.... it doesn't make sense to spend money on them...'
Why are you able, after s/he's dead, to make that trip and spend that money? Why not do those things while s/he's around to enjoy them?
I held a surprise joint 60th birthday party for my parents in the early 1990s... No, I couldn't afford it (I was newly single, owned a house, had two children...) but it was important enough to me that I gave some stuff up so I could do it.... Sixty people showed up. They got phone calls from London and Hawaii during the party. I sent postcards with the invitations and asked people to write their best/funniest memory and mail it to me.... We got postcards, letters, and pictures which were put into a photo album for our parents.... Kind of like a wake for the living....
Buy those flowers for your mother or your wife!
Go visit the ones you love!
Pick up the phone...call and say 'I love you!!'
DO IT NOW! After they're gone, they won't be able to appreciate it.
hugs, Elizabeth