...has left the building

Today was a day of sadness filled with joy. Today we lay to rest the father of My Beloved. Today was a chance to again visit My Cathedral; a chance to say hello to my parents.

My Beloved's father was a good man. He was a man of honor, a man of discipline, a man who lived in a world now past. Although we shared a family thread we seemed to have little else in common. That is not to say we had little to share, just that we were very different. My father-in-law was a man given to groups, groups of stature and significance. That was were his heart lay for many years. He was a member of the Highway Patrol Auxiliary and a commander of the American Legion. He loved these institutions and helped to lead others through them. It was where he earned his distinction. He felt a bond and brotherhood with the men he gathered with and they turned out to salute him on his final day.

I have never been one to join anything. Although I have a strong connection with family and my faith, I have never belonged to a group. Perhaps it is the way of an older generation that bonded together through the difficult times of the world war and the striving to retrieve a state of normalcy afterward. In that sense, they fought and leaned on each other and needed that strength again in civilian life. Others are pulled to groups through their children, through schools and sports and other activities. North of 50 has ties of similar nature. I have none.

Under normal circumstances I rarely think about this, however on a day like today it lends a permanence to the proceedings, a final finale, a punctuation to remember. I would not call myself a loner as I am surrounded by streams of people on a daily basis. I do not shun social contact but have never felt the urge or need to single out a group to join. Perhaps it is a calling those who join others share. I would hope no one feels they need to join a group to feel important or wanted but because they share something in common. Although it cost him in some ways, it was his way.

And now he joins the biggest group of all. May the angels bring you to glory and everlasting rest.