Old Friends....

....in new situations.  ​Saturday I went to the marvelous memorial for my friend S.  It was at an old funeral home in my old neighborhood, which I’ve passed by on foot and in car a million times.  I actually did my very first show in Chicago in the church across the street.  It was The Adventures of Peer Gynt, and I can’t for the life of me remember who did our adaptation, but Rokko Jans wrote all the music.  Anyway, I digress. 
 
The funeral home was packed when I got there and people continued to come in half of the afternoon.  It was overwhelming and heartwarming and so many adjectives and emotions that I’ll sound cliché if I try to name them all.  I saw people I was hoping to see, friends of S’s who were my friends because of him.  We all spent copious amounts of time together in the mid to late ‘80s.  So fun to see them, so beautiful to see faces I didn’t know, which actually was most of them.  S had friends in many facets of his life, as I suppose we all do.  His coworkers from the place he last worked told funny stories about S, his sense of humor, the jokes he liked to tell, and what a good person he was.  I told my fun story about him because I thought they’d all appreciate it, which they did.  I think laughter can be the best medicine for just about anything if you can find it in you.  Sometimes I guess you just can’t. 
 
The energy in the room was a mixture of still shock that he’s not here enjoying the party, sadness, joy, love, love, love.  That was the overwhelming feeling in the room.  We all gathered because of love.  That, in me, inspires awe.  I was so struck by the grateful feeling that S had all of these people -- old friends, new friends, family -- to love him.  We sometimes don’t know how we make a difference in people’s lives.  It’s astonishing how many lives we touch without even knowing it.  This day will stay with me for its beauty, its simplicity, its honesty, its sorrow, its joy, its laughter, its overwhelming love.
 
I hope you’re having the very most beautiful of days.