How appropriate! It describes the death of a spouse to a "T".
The pain is starting to subside and I am ready to post my eulogy as a few have requested.
She is gone
I am happy to see such a crowd. Sharron didn't want a formal funeral. She wanted a small gathering to send her on her way. As the news of her death became public, we realized a funeral was required and so here we are to celebrate Sharron and her gentle spirit. I assure you she would have no problem with the present arrangement. Welcome to all and I thank you on her behalf.
It was inevitable that one of us should go first. I have always prayed it would be me. Now she has gone to life's next level, an afterlife that promises peace and tranquility. I believe she will be there when my turn comes and you know it won't be my heaven if she is not there waiting to take me home.
How can I explain Sharron? It is difficult because she was so complex and so much more than I had ever hoped for. I first met her when she was on a blind date with a friend of mine and I was in a fairly serious relationship with a friend of hers. I was smitten, but I don't think she was too taken with me. She refused to see me at first. EventualIy, I think she must have felt sorry for me and she finally gave me a break. We went out and the rest is history.
If you want a happy marriage, there are several important ingredients and we had them all, well or at least most of them: honesty, loyalty, compromise, fidelity, fun times and Sharron's favourite, deception for the greater good. When she had an idea, she made me think it was my idea and then she agreed with my idea, which was her idea in the first place. Deception for the greater good. I learned that very early when Sharron cooked a chicken casserole and I ate it. It was delicious. Later she told me it was a fish casserole. I HATE FISH! Deception for the greater good, or words to that effect, she explained. I had to admit it was well played.
Sharron showed me the way. She had the best ideas, carried them through and deserves all the glory. I was just along for the ride and what a ride it was. We recognized we were in this for life and we shared the happiness and the sadness, and all the other sentiments that serve to support a successful marriage. We grew together joined by the bonds of love and we became one metaphorical person as our thoughts and our goals merged. Our marriage was a successful partnership which gave us our three children, all our blessings and many beautiful memories. I will miss her lilting laughter. And what a laughter it was, sure to make the other angels jealous, I will also miss her tears of sadness in difficult times and her unrelentable joy in our children and their children.
What greater accomplishment is there for two human souls than to understand that they are one person. To smile with each other in the good times and to minister to each other in the bad. Sharron was there through it all, a leader and advocate for the whole of the family. She was our secret weapon, a heat seeking missile when the family needed protection.
Woe betide anyone who messed with her children or grandchildren. She was a wonderful mother and wife and life is empty without her.
Part of what is keeping me alive and sane is knowing and believing that people you love never die. They don't die. Not completely. They live in your mind, the way they always have. Keep her light alive and she can still guide us boldly into the future; just like the shine of a distant star in some faraway galaxy can still guide ships to safety in unfamiliar waters.
You taught us well Sharron so please don't worry about us. We will all BE OK, just not today.
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