No friends like old friends

Went to a memorial this past weekend to say farewell to a wonderful old family friend who passed away, full of life and surrounded by happiness as he always had been. Very positive time, church packed with people who all had a story to tell about how he'd been such an amazing influence on their lives. Would that we all could step out of this life with such joyful acclaim, steeped in love and music. Good-bye, Stan... we need more people like you.

In my teen years he was my church choir director, school choir director, jazz choir director, co-director of drama productions, my humanities teacher, my sunday school teacher... to say I saw him frequently was an understatement. He was instrumental in developing my love of music, art history and most of all, in leading me to Christ. I can't thank him enough, nor could any of the many people there.

Met a lot of people I hadn't seen for nearly 30 years, amazing how some have changed so much you can barely tell who they are and others have apparently been stored away in a time bubble somewhere. It is always a marvel to me how many Good People there are in this world, far too easy to forget it with the media so obsessed with the negatives.

Life goes on, bless those who make it a brighter place for everyone.