Not what I expected... at the cemetery

I knew the deceased years ago. Actually, the children of the deceased were the ones I knew best. The entire immediate family had moved away when I was a teenager. I don’t remember seeing any of them very much over the last 40 years. There had been marriages, divorces, and new marriages. Even their children were grown and gone.

As it turned out, I was available and everything just fell into place for me to go to the interment and I felt like it was the right thing to do. It was actually a very agreeable day. It had been threatening rain all morning, but when the time came, there was just an intermittent mist and a cool, pleasant breeze.

The minister, who did not know the honoree well, spoke strong and well about the legacy we leave, the seeds we sow, and we all have a time like this coming.

Then, suddenly, the music happened. (The minister told me later that he thought, “They didn’t tell me that there would be music.”) It was unplanned, but nonetheless, special music. Someone’s cell phone alerted not only the owner, but the entire solemn crowd. The ringtone, you ask? Yes, the ringtone. I know it well. Bill Wither’s “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone…..”

I almost strangled…. I tried, desperately, to clear my throat. It just wasn’t happening.

The minister? A consummate professional. He did the only thing he could do. He prayed.

Looking back, it was certainly a memorable occasion. In fact, I'll never forget it. Leaving a cemetery with a smile on your face just doesn’t happen very often.