I can never sing that hymn (actually, this time I just listened to the beautiful "choir" sing it to me in the Trine dialect) without remembering a relative's double funeral years ago, and their grown children's impression, shared later with me, that the deceased parents were singing the words TO the children.
It's dawned on me a few times, how this experience I'm having is a bit like life in general - I left at a different time, to a different place, than many of my friends and family....(like when we were all in the spirit world together in our pre-mortal life).
When I got here, I didn't know my way around! It was all new to me. I had to learn bit by bit, grow and s-t-r-e-t-c-h to deal with the parts I wasn't wild about. I admit I cried about it a few times. (Like coming into this world, and learning how to navigate - first babyhood, then toddler, then taking off on your own, etc)
Now I am leaving (early Tuesday morning) and again I'll cry...I'm leaving dear friends...although I know I'm going back to old and dear ones.
It reminds me of all the goodbyes I've said over the years - to grandparents, dear aunts and uncles, then our baby daughter Angela, then a nephew, a niece, then my dad, my husband, and my mother-in-law.
They left and I cried.
But I know they were then reunited with dear friends and family...and that is a comfort.
As someone said about a ship sailing - some watch it leave, wave, and say "There she goes" - with sadness - while on a distant shore, others wait eagerly for the same passengers, saying "Here she comes!"
It seems life is made up of hello's and good-bye's....
I have loved the people I've served and served with, here.
I will cherish the memories.