The Secret of Life, 2002, by Thomas Riney

From MemoryArchive

Who: Thomas W. Riney
What: The Secret of Life
When: May 2002
Where: Springfield, Kentucky

Do you know the Secret of Life? Well, I do. No, I’m not going to tell you why you are here, but what you are guaranteed. My grandfather, Charles Freddie White, was a great man. He loved his family and his life. He went to church every Sunday to pray. I loved him very much.

Then, one week before thanksgiving, he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and not given much more time to live. So the next few days he lived life to the fullest. Papaw spent ample time with his grandkids, especially me. I got to know him very well.

Papaw started the Chemo-therapy. He went down hill very fast. The doctors said the Chemo would help him, but it only got worst. The family was called in to spend the last few days with my granddad.

There was so much commotion and sympathy I never really realized what was going on. Papaw was just sick. He would get better. Right? Well, he never seemed to improve.

The very last time I saw my papaw was May the sixteenth. During my last visit he ask me to sing in the funeral. “Hold on,” I said, “What funeral?” Then it hit me Papaw was going to die. I started to cry, and gave him a hug. Papaw noticed I was crying and said, “Don’t cry.” “I’m going to tell you the Secret of Life.”

Papaw sat me on his knee and explained to me that he was going to a better place. I knew he was talking about Heaven. “You should be happy for me,” he said. I still didn’t understand. Papaw also said that you should be sad for someone coming into the world not someone going out of it. He went on telling me how the world is not that great of a place, and how the next world is the greatest place ever. He said Heaven is like a feast, a constant feast. “You know how much I like to eat,” he joked. I still didn’t quite know what papaw was talking about. Anyway, he wiped my eyes and ask once again if I would sing. I said yes.

The next day, he past. That great man survived one day shy of six months, after he was diagnosed. When I found out I started to weep for him, or was it for him. No, I was crying because I was going to miss him. I was crying for myself.

I sing at many funerals, but I never really understood the response I was singing, until the day of the funeral. I went up to the podium and the music started to play. Everyone was crying. Then, I looked over at the casket and remembered what that wise man told me. I started to sing. Shepard me O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life. I, then, fully understood the Secret of Life.