Thirteen Years Ago

It was thirteen years ago today, a day that I don't think I will ever forget. A day that my life changed forever, a day life exited my Fathers body and it laid at rest for the start of eternity. I'll never forget the first time I saw my fathers lifeless body, just minutes after he had passed. My heart sunk like it has never sunk in my life.

Thirteen years later we still reflect upon the life of a great man that we lost that day. A man that my siblings and I called dad, a man my nieces and nephews called pap or grandpa, a man who all of the men who worked under him in the mines called friend and a man who was loved by all who ever met him.

I like to think that he was a very, if not the most influential person in my life.

We Miss you dad.

My Fathers Eulogy

I was looking around Facebook yesterday and I saw where my niece Val made a post about the story of the Dragonfly. It's a special story to all of us, because it was the eulogy used for my father's funeral 13 years ago. 

Allow me to share it with you. Thank You Val.

The Story of the Dragonfly

In a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew that when this happened their friend was dead, gone forever. One day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top. When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided to take a nap. As he slept, his body changed. When he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful dragonfly. As he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life than what he had ever known existed. He found he could fly and in his flight he discovered his world was brighter than anything he had ever imagined and the beauty was breathtaking.


Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He remembered his pact with the others below and started down to the water. He tried and tried to break through the surface to reach his friends, but couldn’t.


He wanted to go back to tell them what he had found, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they too would know what he now knew. That one day we too will break out of the murky water and join the others we love in the bright light of heaven.


So he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!