June 20, 2023
“It does not matter how long you are spending on the Earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters.”
– Amit Ray
Sometimes an epitaph on a gravestone carries more meaning than a long obituary. A tombstone in Watertown Mass from 1688 of a man who died at 35 has this inscription:
Here lyes ye precious dust of
Thomas Bailey:
A painful preacher,
An eminent liver,
A tender husband,
A careful father,
A brother for adversity,
A faithful friend,
A most desirable neighbor,
A pleasant companion,
A common good,
A cheerful doer,
A patient sufferer,
Lived much in little time
A good copy for all survivors.
Laid to rest at 35
He slept in Jesus 21st of Jan 1688
Wouldn’t we all want to be remembered as a tender spouse, a brother in adversity, a faithful friend, a cheerful doer and a patient sufferer? And wouldn’t we all want to have had the grace of “living much in a little time.”
On your journey toward healing, spend quiet time writing down all the things that your loved one meant to you. It will be a bittersweet exercise, but you will come away refreshed, renewed and grateful that you had them with you in this life, sharing joy and sorrow and wonderment.
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List all the ways your loved one was special to you … and to others.