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I must be a little chicken after all...

Unfortunately, about 5 days before Christmas a good friend of mine passed away. He was only 25 years old, and was one of the brightest and most charismatic people I was ever lucky enough to meet. While at his funeral I found myself afraid of showing emotion. Why? I can't tell you. It was natural. I wanted to cry, I wanted to find someone to comfort and help comfort me through this tough time. I didn't, all I was able to do was stand and watch, without a bit of anguish on my face, alone in the corner of the church.
The funeral ceremony was beautiful. There was a lot of nice things said about Chuck that made us all laugh and feel like he was there with us still. After the burial, we went back to the church fellowship hall for lunch. I grabbed my plate, not so much hungry, but just there because I could sit and congregate with everyone. I was the next in line to get a piece of fried chicken. The elderly lady serving the food looked at me and looked away quickly. I thought, man, did I just give her that bad of a look? No, it was then that she proceeded to grab the smallest piece of chicken, with hardly any meat on it, and put it on my plate. She knew she was giving me a bad piece, and apparently felt a little ashamed of it. My friends and I all laughed when we got back to the table. And as I said I wasn't hungry so it didn't matter, but it gave us a good laugh.
I had just finished the dessert brownie which was great, and then out of the corner of my eye I see the same lady that was serving chicken standing right next to me. I was startled but said, "Very good food, we really appreciate it." I looked over to see her holding a big chicken breast in a pair of tongs, and she replied,"Are you the young man that didn't get a very good piece?" Feeling a little embarrassed after I had just grilled her on the matter, I said, " It was fine, I am really not that hungry..." In an awkward tone. I guess it is true, you really are what you eat.

Comments

Bluzlover said…
I've always had a hard time at funerals...what to you say about death, it happens? Eventually it will happen to all of us. I've realized that being there for someone at this time is the best thing you can do, the one who has gone over to the other side is glad to see you there too.

At some point, your emotions for Chuck will happen, maybe in 2 weeks, 2 years or 20 years, but when it does, you'll feel good.

I think your blog is a cool idea, you have great thoughts that you should share with people.

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