“Isn’t That the Sweetest Thing?”

Occasionally we are awed at something that elicits “Isn’t that the sweetest thing?” Recently I experienced this at a funeral home. The family of the deceased covering four generations seemed quite bonded to each other and to the great-grandfather in the coffin. I was pleasantly surprised that even the youngest children between the ages of three and six stayed several hours and managed to use their “inside voices.” At the end of the night when families were leaving, and I anticipated cranky kids, the opposite occurred. The great-grandchildren still had a sense of reverence and awareness of funeral home etiquette. When the very last great-grandson, a child of three, turned from his good-bye to his great-grandfather, he cried and asked, “Can’t we take him home? Let’s take Grandpa home.” Now, wasn’t that the sweetest thing?