In Praise of Family Men.
I attended a funeral this afternoon. The funeral was for the husband of my tenth-grade Sunday School teacher. Some people are just special. Mrs. S is one of those people. I have run into her through the years at Meijers and at various functions my mother's church had sponsored, and its always been the same...the quick smile, the remembering of our last meeting, curiousity about current doings. She and Mr. S had been married 54 years.

When I heard of his passing Thursday I thought of my dad. There are certain men whose main characteristic when you think of them is "a family man". My dad had been that type, as was Mr. S. And bearing out my feelings, when I expressed my condolences to Larry, the S's son, he brought up my dad's passing also, even though that was twenty-one years ago.

So it has been a bit of a melancholy day. That's the price of loving people, I guess. Remembering is sweet but also renews the sense of loss.