{"id":8036,"date":"2013-11-11T09:15:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T17:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=8036"},"modified":"2013-11-11T09:15:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T17:15:36","slug":"one-more-about-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/11\/11\/one-more-about-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"One More About Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dad-Tearing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dad, hours after Mom died, wiping a tear, something I’d never seen. Behind is Adelene, the 24-hour caregiver from Belize who we’ve all come to depend on.<\/h6>\n

We buried my mother on Friday, a week after she died. It’s not that I want to belabor the theme here, though I would wish, when my time comes, it merits more than a passing mention. For you too.<\/p>\n

We had a marvelous memorial, following a graveside service. My brother, a retired pastor, gave a message at the graveside, following his soulful harmonica rendition of Amazing Grace<\/em>. The pastor of my parents’ church also spoke. At one point he asked what example of grace had we seen my mother manifest. I volunteered, \u201cShe forgave me.\u201d That, he summarized, said it all.<\/p>\n

It was a very Christian service. The funeral director told me after, of all he sees, this one was inspiring. Too bad he didn’t follow us to the luncheon that followed where friends and family took their turns giving brief memories of Mom and her unique character. There were as many laughs as tears. Her legacy was apparent, not just in the stories, but in values instilled in her offspring . . . and theirs.<\/p>\n

My father didn’t make it to either of the services. He’s almost immobile now, speaks very slowly if at all, and seem ready to join my mother any time. With her gone, it’s like he really hasn’t any further reason to hang around. Happily, after both of the above mentioned services, some 30 or more came over to the house, greeted him, then stayed the rest of the day. Being in the same house I grew up in, it seemed like so many Sunday afternoons when my mother would invite anybody and everybody who would come over after church to just be with each other.<\/p>\n

The day of death is better than the day of birth.<\/em>* That’s a verse from Ecclesiastes, the kind of which I’ve already written on and now has a place in my new book.** We quote it as some sort of vague consolation, or even \u201cweird\u201d consolation. A birth is a celebration, a death a mourning. So how is it better? Except that at the beginning there’s nothing, just a bundle of potential that could go either way. At the end, however, there’s much to celebrate, to acknowledge and, as I said, a heritage to continue.<\/p>\n

By the way, I’ll be speaking on Ecclesiastes at my church Sunday after next. It’ll be upbeat; I’ll mix the positive in with the ponderings.***<\/p>\n

But for now, before rushing on with the \u201cnext\u201d of our lives, I wanted to take one more moment to acknowledge Mom. Dad’s next. After that, before long, me and you.<\/p>\n

Live well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ecclesiastes 7:1b
\n** \u00a0 It’s About Life<\/em>, available here<\/a>.
\n*** Heritage Christian Fellowship, San Clemente, 11\/24\/13, 9:00 & 11:00.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before rushing on with whatever’s next, here’s one more reflection on the climax of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8036"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8055,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8036\/revisions\/8055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}