Life and death, love and indifference. Every funeral I attend makes me reflect on my life. Considering how many I've been to lately you can bet I've been doing a lot of thinking. The funeral before last, a few weeks ago, was for vibrant young lady, not much older than myself, who had cancer. I didn't know her personally. She was a member of my church for a short time, but I am very close to someone who did know her well, and so I went to show general support. As I sat there listening to each person who went up to speak I inevitably began to wonder what people would be saying about me at my funeral (morbid thoughts, I know). I went further to think about what I would want to say for my loved ones. And so I started writing what I call "Love Letters" in my head to each of my friends, thanking them for sticking with me and telling them all what I think of them. Why wait until they pass away, right? I figured that I could write the letters with the intention that they be delivered upon my death. And so the stream of consciousness continues and I didn't stop there. Why wait until I die? It should be easy to tell them everything now. Yes, we know that we "love" each other by the mere fact that we stay in each others' lives to some degree, but it's always nice to be specifically reminded of what you mean to someone. So, I thought about this some more - why don't we show appreciation more - and the only thing I could figure is that when you are about to wear your heart on your sleeve like that, there is a fear of being hurt. (I'd love to hear some thoughts on this. Are we lazy? Are we selfish? Self-centered?) So, yes, I think I'm going to write some letters. I adore the written word. How much more personal can you get than to pour out your heart onto paper knowing that you can't take your words back, knowing the person reading it just might keep it and read over and over again. There is no hiding from your words when they are written down. Unlike the spoken word that is left to the memory, that can be forgotten or twisted or taken out of context, the written word minimizes the chances of that happening. Thoughts?