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Abby’s family held a viewing for her last night and although I went there with a heavy heart, I walked inside Lakelawn Memorial and was greeted by another family gathered in a viewing room near the entrance. Laughter spilled out from the crowd in there. A little boy ran out and ran back in, and was pulling on his mother’s dress and he called to her as he ran away, “I love you mom.”

I thought about the fleeting joy of life and had a sudden urge to tell everyone who comes to my funeral to wear wigs and celebrate the joy I have known. Later, standing near Abby’s tiny white coffin with the pink bow, I was speaking with a friend and he told me his desire was to be buried in a full bunny suit.

Our conversation went from burial to work and then inevitably to the current state of Wall Street. I said I am daily fighting off the feeling of being irrelevant. He said, “Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe fundamentals matter now more than ever. We’re headed back to the basics.” I liked that point of view.

Then I looked over at my friend stroking her daughter’s cheek. There is a saying in every culture that a parent should never have to bury their child – I have to say I have never experienced more profound sadness than watching my friends cope with their dying daughter.

The meaning of life is to live it. Remember that.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.