more Harvey

My friend Harvey's memorial service was yesterday--it was a service full of tears, laughter, jokes, and wonderful memories. It was held in Spartan Memorial Chapel. Near the end, a string quartet played (Harvey's daughter Chandra said that Harvey had given an endowment to the string quartet so that they could continue to go into elementary schools and teach kids about classical music). The quartet played a Beethoven selection in front of the chapel's main window, made of wavy glass, and as they played, you could see someone walking down the long path that the chapel faces--he had on white pants and a blue sweater (similar to things Harvey wore, and was about the same height as Harvey). The man just walked quiety off into the distance--at that point, I was able to start crying, finally--I have been so sad and numb--and yet, this person has left a wonderful legacy in my life and the lives of others. Sometimes the death of a loved one is like a jump-start, a reminder of the important things in life and an invective to get priorities straightened out. I believe that there is an existence after death and that a person's love lives on and on. Still, the loss of the person's physical presence is so hard--and yet, in the end, there is only love, and that survives everything.