"I know you're gone, but in our hearts you will always, always live on."
-"I Feel Home" By OAR

These lyrics seem to fit well considering the poem we have just read by Walt Whitman and the trip we are about to take to the cemetery. These particular lyrics are ones which I dedicated to a man in my church that passed away last year around Christmas time. He was an older gentleman in my church that I absolutely adored. I would walk into the church doors and Ed would greet me right away. We would go arm in arm as he walked me to the front of the church where I usually sat. As we walked he would grab my hand and check for a ring jokingly, and he would always say: "Just making sure, I'm going to have to approve, you know, because you need a good man." I don't think Ed was capable of saying anything remotely negative. I remember asking him to fill out a survey about me which asked questions about what I was good at. One of the questions asked if I was good with wood work/carpentry - he gave me the highest score possible! I can't do anything with wood, but he wouldn't dare say otherwise.
I was here in Florida when Ed passed in NJ, it was sudden and I couldn't make it to the funeral. I was told that there was a line around the funeral home of people waiting to say something about him, and time and time again people would say that he was the reason they came to church or he was the person that led them to Christ. He was wonderful. I miss him greatly. And I wanted with all my heart for him to be at my wedding one day as I married a man he approved of. Nonetheless, I know he is up there hanging out with Jesus, wearing ridiculous ties, fishing whenever he has the chance and keeping an eye on who I date.