I had the honor recently of participating in the funeral of a very dear friend. Jim was our neighbor my entire life and a great family friend. When we were kids life was much different than it is now. The neighbors would look out for you and if you did anything wrong, they would call your parents who would thank them for calling. Things really have changed.
The last few years, since both Jim and my dad retired, they would meet each morning for coffee and then each afternoon for “tea” (that’s code for a drink of Scotch). They would talk about all sorts of things from cutting the grass to local and national politics. When I was able to get home I would join them for these conversations. It was always an experience.
Jim had been sick the last year but still kept up with the daily ritual until he was too sick. He passed just before Christmas and we said goodbye at the funeral. One of the tasks of the priest is to say goodbye. In the Orthodox tradition the funeral is conducted with the casket open and at the end of the funeral service all those in attendance come up and say their last goodbye. The final blessing is given and the casket is closed. There is something comforting about doing that.
As we approach the end of the year it is time to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new. A time to look back on all that was accomplished and what was not. It is a time for nostalgia to take over and maybe we get a little sad that the year is coming to a close. I for one will not be sad to see 2011 come to an end. It was a very difficult year for so many and I look forward to what the New Year will bring for all of us.
On New Year’s Eve, many of us will sing the great song Auld Lang Syne. Maybe we will join hands as is the custom in the Scottish Community, or maybe we will just sing the words. The song has many meanings for many people but for me it is about holding on to the good memories and forgetting the bad. Remembering friends and family and the love we have for each other and moving on past the bad. We cannot change the past all we can do is to make the future better. I believe that everything happens for a reason and it’s not what happens but what we learn from it.
I pray that 2012 is a great year for all of us.
Auld Lang Syne (In the Original Scots)
CHORUS
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn*?
CHORUS:
Fir ald lang syn, ma jo (or ma dear),
fir ald lang syn,
wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.
An sheerly yil bee yur pynt-staup!
an sheerly al bee myn!
An will tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.
CHORUS
We twa hay rin aboot the braes,
an pood the gowans fyn;
Bit weev wandert monae a weery fet,
sin ald lang syn.
CHORUS
We twa hay pedilt in the burn,
fray mornin sun til dyn;
But seas between us bred hay roard
sin ald lang syn.
CHORUS
An thers a han, my trustee feer!
an gees a han o thyn!
And we’ll tak a richt‡ gude-willie-waucht‡,
fir ald lang syn.
CHORUS
