Friday 29 June 2012

A Life Well Lived


A Life Well Lived


Funerals are never easy things to attend but yesterday I did go to one of the most beautiful funerals of a woman I will always admire and whose life I will always uphold as one truly lived with honour, enthusiasm and grace.

She didn’t have an easy background as a child out of wedlock in the sixties, with mixed raced parents whom she never met, she was brought up in care. Rather than this being a set- back my friend was one of the most upbeat, positive and enabling people I know. She used all her talents and experiences to help others in similar situations. As a social worker and musician she worked tirelessly to help those who were experiencing what she had experienced, whether it was children in care or people with multi-racial backgrounds. She worked continuously for refugees in Bristol bringing together her music, managerial talents and social work to create successful events and raising awareness.

When she discovered she had a brain tumour my friend battled with her illness with grace and humility and I always found her positive however ill she was. Though I cannot say I knew her well she has confirmed for me my belief that death is a doorway to a more extraordinary place, a place I have been lucky enough to glimpse for a moment, an experience almost impossible to fully describe. A place of such complete release and beauty, words cannot possibly get close.  For me the idea that there is nothing beyond life is not only extremely sad for those who chose to believe it but also makes a nonsense of science. Scientists know that nothing can disappear only transmute and we, without our bodies, are simply energy. Where does that energy go when we leave our physical bodies behind? The glow that those who journey towards death with peace and grace illuminate as they leave, show me that my experience is a truth. Life is a beautiful thing but just a stage like a cocoon from which we can emerge like a butterfly as we return to spirit and go home.

I know she is flying like a bird.

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