Source: gunster.com
After a tough week saying goodbye to my stepfather, I returned home today. It is hard for me to believe that just two weeks ago we were returning with my youngest son from our fun-filled adventure in N. California and S. Oregon.
Now that I am back in Michigan, it will be time to get back into the swing of things and the daily routine. I guess that is therapeutic is some small way, but time is usually the best healer that I know of.
The legacy my stepfather leaves behind can best be summed up by the poem he had read at his funeral. It is entitled “Miss me, but let me go,” by Edgar A. Guest.
“When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?
–
Miss me a little–but not too long
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared,
Miss me–but let me go.
–
For this is a journey that we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the Master’s plan,
A step on the road to home.
–
When you are lonely and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss Me–But Let me Go!”
In particular, the next to last line of the poem is spot on. My stepfather was the epitome of a giving and caring person. He started a private foundation in the 1990s that now helps fund important social services in Indiana and Oregon.
No other person (or religion) on this planet has better taught me the true spirit of selfless giving. That indeed is a legacy we should all strive for – being remembered for our kind and giving nature by practicing the adage of it always being better to give than it is to receive in our daily lives.
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Panethos 