From Weddings to Funerals

Today I attended two funerals.  I have never had two in one day before in my life.  This is not one of those "firsts" you ever desire or ever even think of as a possible occurrence until you are faced with it.  When I was in my twenties I remember people a generation ahead of me complaining about how in their forties they began to attend more funerals than weddings, and how they knew it was only going to get worse.  (I am guessing they received that warning from the generation ahead of THEM).  I know it isn't rocket science to realize this is just a fact of life.  But here I am...forty-two years old, recalling that tidbit of info remarked upon by people who seemed SO OLD at the time, and realizing they were right (and aren't they always?).  Can I just say that this sucks?!

As I ponder the mathematics of this supposed fact, I find that it IS true.  In the past year, I have only attended two weddings, one of which was my only daughter's (yet another realization of my age and stage in life).  Considering I am already matching that total today in funerals, and knowing I've been to several other funerals this year, I guess the findings support the hypothesis.  Kind of a depressing reality with which to be faced. Weddings are quite a bit more fun than funerals--and quite a bit easier on you emotionally.  But as God's Word says in Ecclesiastes 3, "There is a time for everything , and a season for every activity under heaven:  a time to be a born and a time to die...a time to mourn and a time to dance..."

I remember in my twenties attending so many weddings that my husband and I seriously had to have a special budget allowance just for shower and wedding gifts.  Because we had our daughter when we were extremely young, she was asked by numerous college friends of ours, as well as family members, to be the flower girl or Jr. bridesmaid in their weddings.  She filled that role nine times, and I guess I remember that distinctly because it was kind of a big deal to our Allie.  She was such a girly-girl, and having excuses to dress-up and smile pretty for pictures was right down her alley (pun intended).  Now that she's in HER twenties, she is the one attending weddings on a nearly monthly basis, and even more frequently through the summer months when weddings are in prime season.  Those were the good 'ol days.

My husband's parents and mine, all in their sixties and up, attend funerals so often now that they have to realign their lives around them at times.  I don't even want to think about how this is going to get worse.  My mother, who has a warped sense of humor and way of looking at things at times, has gone so far as to say, "Well, when everyone you know is dying, you find yourself becoming more 'okay' with the idea yourself, because you don't know anybody anymore!"  She kills me.  She's also constantly saying with a twinkle and a chuckle, "Oh, death doesn't scare me!  Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die!"  I guess having that light-hearted mentality about the whole thing is going to be essential.  What else can you do?  Death and taxes...death and taxes.