The past week

 
 

The past week has been a rough one, losing a friend of the family that I have known my entire life and my mom has known since first grade.
She was a wonderful lady, with a great attitude, zest for life, spunk and the will to live and accomplish her goals, unfortunately, Jan lost her fight to cancer last Sunday. Not only did she lose her fight to cancer on Sunday, but her sister also lost her fight with cancer on Friday, two days before. Does not seem fair at all.
Jan is pictured above in the red shrug, it was fitting that she was wearing that in this picture, red was her favorite color and a lot of us wore it to the funeral.
Here is a poem I read at the funeral:



Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.

All is well.