Pick just one word

I get so angry at myself sometimes, because I don't write down things when I think of them. So many times ideas and thoughts come to me, but I am a very absent minded person. In one ear, out the other... Hopefully they will come to me again, because when I thought of them I really got excited about sharing them, but now I can't remember most of them. One thing I did recall from my last few days out of town is thinking about death and some things along with it. I was in a class and the question was asked: If you could have only one word on your grave, what would it be? That really made me think. What one word could define an entire life? How could I sum up all that I have been through in a matter of a few letters? I started thinking hard about that as people in the circle answered the question and as the line grew shorter as it neared my seat. The girl right before me, Rachel, answered the question quickly with the word 'faith'. I thought that to be interesting. I decided on the word 'loved'. In my mind, it seemed that the word loved would sum up a good life lived. Then my brain really started going. (This is a benefit of my ADD that I am positive I have. I think of something which leads to the next thing, which gets my thinking about another idea and so on and so on. Ultimately, I bounce around on a lot of ideas). But, as I said, my head started turning and I thought on the idea of why people get so upset when one dies. Of course, because you will never seem them again in a physical sense and it is our nature to be distraught over death. But what I was thinking about is why do deaths impact so many lives? The thought that came to me sounded a little weird, but maybe you can work with me. Death reflects life. The amount of sorrow that comes in the event of someone's death, in my opinion, is because of the life they led. What an awesome privilege we have to live and to impact others, to make friends, to love. To lose one who did these things to the fullest is going to be extremely hard. But, the challenge is to let these people live on. The laughs they gave us, the tears they shed, the life they lived...Why let it die when it meant so much. A girl at my school died this past year and the night it happened was one of the most heartwrenching experiences in my life. People at the church crying hysterically and I was one of them soon after. How could God let this happen to someone like her? She impacted so many in her life, but what of her death? In the months after she died, people changed. People changed for her. Everyone was touched by the life she led and they didn't want her to go, so they made the decision to let her live through them. They would do the things she did, they would love and laugh like she did. They would carry on the beauty of life that she was. And, yes, death is a horrible thing. But what an awesome thought to know that not only is she in a better place, but because of her...A few more will be joining her.