Remember Me This Way

Remember Me This Way

After having a lot of time to sit back and think about this topic, I have made a few changes in the way I want to be remembered.

This past weekend I attended a funeral service for a women I never really knew, my great aunt, Gretchen Tremmel. Although I never really knew her, I felt as though I had forever. This service wasn't really a funeral, she told her family that when she died, that she didn't want a huge funeral with lots of people standing around her body in a casket, staring down at her crying. She wanted her family and friends to celebrate, to get together and enjoy that time with the other family members that don't get to see one another often. What it turned out to be was a party. It was held in a church's community room; there was food, friends and family, there to share the times. As everyone went around the room and said whom they were, how they knew or were related to her, they were also given a chance to share a fond memory of theirs, good or bad. I have to say this is what touched me most deeply. Seeing her family and friends talk about what a great person she was to them, how much she cared and how much she devoted herself to helping other, filled my eyes with tears. Although this wasn't supposed to be a sad occasion, it was hard to fight back these emotions. At that moment, I knew.

When I die I don't want people to stand around my casket, staring down on me. I want people to celebrate, my new life, and cherish the rest of theirs with the people who they care about. I want to be remembered, remembered not for what I did, my success, but for the lives I touched, either good or bad. I want me family and friends to share with one another, the kind of person I was, and how I touched each of their lives. I believe that when you die that you can look down on the world, to watch over the people you love. With my already deceased family by my side, we will be looking down upon them celebrating right along with them. Sometime during this service I want some things shared, poems, letters I have written to a person, songs that the lyrics help explain something to someone that I couldn't say before. Things that I want to say to the people I love.

(Song) Will You Remember Me This Way… Sarah McLachlan
(Song) Remember Me This Way... Jordan Hill
(Song) If Tomorrow Never Comes... Garth Brooks