WHEN THINGS BECOME FINAL.

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I took the closest exit to the main road and headed home, a little unsettled, yet I knew I had just realized the finality of it all. Driving in I located approximately where he was buried and parked the car. As I stood next to my vehicle I surveyed the scene and saw the rows of tombstones that lay before me and there for the first time I saw his name in large letters chiseled precisely. The name was larger than I expected, but knew one of these days it would be in place.

It had been a year to the date since John left us one Sunday evening, and now since that time, the journey seemed over. Seeing the stone seemed to settle it all, he WAS gone after all! There was finality.

John

Standing under the shading oak among rows of graves, the cool autumn air was biting into my legs, peeling away the warmth that was on my face, and reminding me that I was in a special place. All too often I have come to visit my son, my Dad, my in-laws and my other brother-in-law through marriage, along with my two nephews and felt the emptiness that comes with such visits, but this time it was like I was a thousand miles away. There were noises in the distance but they seemed so out of touch with the reality I was dealing with today, at this moment that separated me from the whole world, and my mental conversation with my brother-in-law John.

As I stood over the spot where he lay, I couldn’t help but think that the layer of ground that separated him from me was there only in a physical sense, but that I could feel his presence, even though it was his earthly remains, his spirit was reaching me in a way.

Driving home I remembered the birth date engraved on the stone and though that a few short years and he would have been 80! Was that too much to ask in this day and age? 80 years of age isn’t old, why was he deprived of more years? If he was a bum, or a rat, his 76 years would have been too much, but this was a good man, and family man who loved everyone.

Just goes to show you that your time on Earth is set, that you are not the judge or the jury, that it is better to judge yourself in the time you are given, and let God sort out the rest. I guess it is a lesson from the grave.