gray Friday

So as I went to the memorial service I mentioned on Wednesday for Mr. Shimabukuro. Shiv and I carpooled there, but with all the traffic around downtown Bellevue and the strong rain, it didn't help that much in cutting through the congestion. Luckily, the church where the service was at, being quite large, was easy to find. The parking lot was filled with cars.

It's a familiar cliche, but when people die, there's a vacuum... the size of which is dependent on a person's life, who they knew, and how they acted. For someone like Mr. Shimabukuro, who was such an active, kind, and spiritual leader, there's now a gaping hole in the social fabric of the communities he belonged. It's amazing to see how many different lives he touched... seeing the large number of people gathered reminded me of my father's service.

The memorial service was also the chance to see a lot of old friends. It's not that most of them live far away - we're still all mostly scattered around the Seattle area - but everybody is just off doing something different. The social outlets that used to connect us, like going to school together, college fellowship, or attending the same church... they're no longer there. I guess a sign of getting older is you see your old friends at only one of three non-seasonal functions:

-funerals
-weddings
-baby parties.

I'm just hoping the balance tips back to more of the latter two than the former.
posted by G at 3:43 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33