A Funeral for An Almost Stranger

Weird title, I know.  Let me explain.  Jena performs with the Friend to Friend theatre group on Friday afternoons.  A grandmother of two of the kids in the younger class passed away and she was a BIG fan of Friend to Friend.  The family reached out to Shelley Davies, the director, and invited them to come and perform a song from Wicked as part of the funeral service.  They had learned "For Good" along with the sign language.  Jena was happy to participate so we headed to Centerville last Tuesday for a quick practice and then to sing as part of the service.

They did well and the words were so sweet in that setting. especially being sung by her two grandchildren and their friends.

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit

As it passes a sun

Like a stream that meets a boulder

Halfway through the wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a skybird

In a distant wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

Because I knew you

I have been changed for good

One additional note:  I have never met Susan Tresse, although I did recognize her grandchildren and their mother from F2F events.  But sitting in her funeral was a special experience.  She led a simple life by many measures and life was hard for her from birth to death--financial pressures, health problems, challenges of every kind---but she had faith and she was gifted to share that faith in poetry and songs...even from a young age, she knew her Heavenly Father loved her and was guiding her life.  It was a worshipful experience.  It made me think that maybe I should just attend funerals of good people every week.  It is so uplifting to learn from the memories of those left behind.

And I certainly have been changed for good by SO SO MANY people in my own personal life.  My heart is filled "with their handprints."