It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Something strange about living where I live. Yes, I know that's what I get for buying the house I grew up in, but that's not the only thing that is strange. It's the neighborhood. You see, I live by the cemetery which is not so bad....quiet neighbors. Sorry had to do a bad Allen Burris joke :) Anyway, what is interesting to me is the funeral recession lines, some short, some long, some meaningful, some normal, ALL interesting. I always wonder who are the people who have passed on? How many lives have they touched? What impact did they have on the community? Are people in the line because they feel it's their duty or because they will truly miss the deceased? All these questions go through my head each and every time I see the slow moving cars going in front of my house, flags waving in the air, saying their last goodbye.

My children often stand in the doorway watching the "parade" and paying their respects as I have taught them to be still and quiet in honor of the families. In fact, they have picked up on my thoughts by saying "that was a short one" or "are the cars every going to end". I will say that it saddens me that some have just the hearse and maybe 3 cars behind them. What does this mean? Were they a terrible person or just plain old? Then, there are lines that seem to go on forever. I must confess, I usually will get on the funeral home websites just to see "who" this hero was. Sometimes I am surprised by the information, stating that some common Joe has touched lives more so than a church going, religious, believer in Christ. This also saddens me!

My selfishness and pride hopes that I have many who come to my funeral, that the line that follows the hearse is an ever long streak of the lives that I have blessed in some way. That people will be at my funeral just because they were honored to call me their friend. Yet, what do I do on this earth to deserve such celebration of life? As a look back over time, I can say that I have been deceiving, hurtful, and rude just to name a few. Now that I am growing up not only in age, but also in my faith, I can only hope that I choose to do the right thing instead of the easy more natural thing. This is something that I have been thinking about lately, I know it's kinda dark, but I think a necessary thing to ponder. Maybe I should just take the easy way out and get cremated then I won't have to worry about how long my recession line is! In all seriousness, my prayer is that when I'm gone that my family would say I loved the Lord, I loved them, and I was a blessing to all who knew me and that my "parade" was worth watching.