Today there will be a memorial service in Naples, Florida in memory of my father. The members of his church, friends and some family, will gather to celebrate his life and bury his ashes along side those of his wife Ann.
Here in Pennsylvania it is the first really cold and frosty day but the October sun is shining strong and lighting up the colors of the season. I’m heading up to the lake to take a walk in my own church.
In my absence, our dear friend Martha Forbes will be reading this passage which I wrote for the service…
Growing up as the young children of a minister it was sometimes
be a bit confusing when, sitting in the front pew and trying to follow along, the congregation would arrived at the point in
the service when it was time to recite the Lord’s Prayer.
“Our Father” was actually not in heaven; he was standing right
there in front of
everybody
and usually winking at us…usually.
Today…for us… that prayer, resonates with new meaning.
smile. At his bedside, in those last few hours we had together, I searched the
bookshelf
on
his ipad for something soothing and meaningful to read to him. What I found was
Winnie
the Pooh.
It seems we had come full circle. He had read that to us on our
first days…and I read it to
Bob Good was given the gift of two families of children. The
six of us drew together
as
one family to ease his passing and to celebrate his life.
Our father was a scholar and a writer and as fond of fine
literature as he was quick
to
him
on his last. He told me once that I never made it past the first few pages when
it was
my
bedtime. He didn’t either.
So, this then… for the lover of words and pencils… and of
course breakfast… is what
comes
at the end of the story…
“This party, said Christopher Robin, is a party because of what
someone did, and
we
all know who it was, and it’s his party, because of what he did and I’ve got a
present
for
him and here it is…
It’s for Pooh…the best bear in all the world.”
When Pooh saw what it was he nearly fell down, he was so
pleased. It was a
Special
Pencil Case. There were pencils in it marked “B” for Bear, and pencils marked
“HB”
for Helping Bear, and pencils marked “BB: for Brave Bear. There was a knife for
sharpening
the pencils, and india-rubber for rubbing out anything which you had spelt
wrong,
and a ruler for ruling lines for the words to walk on, and inches marked on the
ruler
in case you wanted to know how many inches anything was, and Blue Pencils and
Red
Pencils and Green Pencils for saying special things in blue and red and green.
And all
these
lovely things were in little pockets of their own in a Special Case which shut
with a
click
when you clicked it. And they were all for Pooh.
“Oh ! “ said Pooh.
“Oh, Pooh ! “ said everybody except Eeyore.
“Thank – you, “ growled Pooh.
But Eeyore was saying to himself, “This writing business.
Pencils and what-not.
Over-rated,
if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it.”
Later on, when they had all said “Good-bye” and “Thank-you” to
Christopher
Robin,
Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and
for
a
long time they were silent.
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last,
“what’s the first thing
you
say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast,” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today ?” said
Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s
the same thing,” he said.
