I searched my catalog for the perfect song but couldn’t find one with the content I needed. Every song of interest had the theme but the lyrics just weren’t quite right; that’s until I listened to this particular one.

Within less than two years, I’ve lost four of some of the closest people to me. The closest being my mother last year. Yesterday, I attended the funeral of a friend of twelve years.

To me, funeral gatherings are reflections of the afterlife; For starters, for every person in attendance, there is a soul that the deceased will live through. Everyone gathers to pay respect and amongst the population are individuals who loved their loved ones in different ways. They leave behind spouses, children, relatives, friends, admirers, and supporters. Our loved ones are captured in our memories, in our conversations, in photographs, and the most sacred place; our hearts. For that reason, they can rest.

We as humans perform so many activities in a lifetime. We leave our imprints on everything we do, everywhere we go, and most of all everyone we come in contact with.  Some we know for seasons; others for a lifetime. But, we never know when our time is coming as if we walk around with invisible timers above our heads counting downwards. There are often warning signs which we ignore or brush off as something minor. Sometimes we get no clues. With that said, we should learn to celebrate life as we know it while we still can.

Death is a hard thing for some of us to swallow. However, when you think about it, is there ever a time when it’s okay to go? I don’t think we ever know our true purposes in life. We can try to take educated guesses but that thought process is actually beyond us and in the hands of a higher being. All we can do is be the best we can be and leave behind a great legacy for others to hold on to.

As we touch the lives of others throughout our travels, just know that we conjure up feelings. It is those feelings which help to keep us alive when the day comes that we exhale.