Wednesday, July 29, 2009

What We Leave Behind


caffection.com


There's an old, apocryphal story of a couple who'd been together over fifty years. They were a model couple, loving, warm, compassionate, a truly 'Caffected' pair. The old man developed a fatal illness, and was dead within a few months. His widow was grief stricken, of course that her best friend was gone--for now--but she relished the many years they'd been together. At the funeral home, people came and went, consoling the old woman, viewing the old man in his casket. They all left the viewing scratching their heads, all with the same question: Why was he holding a fork in his left hand?
weeks later, the old widow was asked that question by a group of friends at church. "Why was your husband holding a fork in his hand in his casket?"
"Because," the old woman said with a smile. "My dear husband loved dessert. I always told him during dinner, 'keep your fork, the best is yet to come'."
So...what will you want to be holding in your hand when they lower you into the ground?

1 comment:

Tim said...

Hey Mariah and Byron, this is a question I need to think about. Walt and I have always said whomever of us survives the other will put his wedding band in the casket. And then my dad reminded me that his mother did the opposite; she wore my grandfather's ring and her own until she died, to keep the marriage alive.

So no answer there... Besides, I still have homework left over from the last 20 questions--got swamped with travel and work and lost track. So I hope to get caught up soon and will have an answer to this question by then!

Thanks, as always, for challenging us to think and feel in elegantly profound ways!

Tim