Preparations to make to say good bye

When I worked in Canada two years ago, I heard unexpected news that Korean War veteran Bill Black's wife passed away. Joining the military at the age of 18, Black was sent to the Korean War. Back home, he married a lady to spend a married life with her for more than 60 years. Even in their 90s, the couple was full of energy and excitement. They had an amazing eye for humor. Just a mere look at the old couple made me warm. One day, I heard that his wife fell down to get a fractured femur so went to visit her. It came as a surprise to me that she passed away less than one month after I went to see her in hospital. After her funeral worship, Mr. Black gave me something like a bookmark with a poem titled "Miss Me But Let Me Go” that his wife prepared on her own and her photo on it. Not only with that, Mrs. Black chose flowers, catering foods, music and photos for her funeral before she died. In many aspects, her funeral was different from the ones that I had been invited to before. She might have set up her funeral with a surprisingly high level of composure and calmness because she felt sorry for her lifelong partner who will have been left alone to arrange his wife’s funeral.

It took so long to let go of the emotions that her funeral arouse. Sitting in my office, I skimmed through the poem. Being one of the most famous English poems, it portrays those who near the end of their life saying good bye to their beloved ones. What lingered in my mind for so long was a true and deep love whose voice says, “I am afraid to be forgotten so please miss me. However, not too long. I do not want you to mourn my death too painfully.” We have lost many of the aged Korean War vets. I wish Mr. Black well.