I just returned from a funeral mass 10 minutes ago. The person who passed away wasn't a personal friend of mine, but I knew of her and I'd sung with her a few times. She had died suddenly a few days ago, and there's something about sudden death that moves me. It suddenly makes you so aware of your mortality and your immortality. What God makes, God can take away whenever he wants. But the memories and legacies remain in the lives of others.
It's been eight months since my friend Tim passed away. And sitting in that church today, again I could feel him there, just as I could the day I learned of his death. And he said, it's ok. Something I find really difficult to expressedly share with other people. Maybe they'll think I'm crazy for still thinking of Tim, or talking to him as if he were here, and knowing that the day I die, I know he will be the first person I will see and what a comfort that knowledge will be.
I have yet to erase his number from my cell phone, nor throw out his business card ; it still sits in my rolodex. And in my deepest darkest moments, I've often found myself wondering, what would Tim do or say in this moment, were he here with me. And it is in these moments, that I realize that the mortality of one human life is always superceded by the immortality of their memories and their effect on others.