Cathy,
We are all sadden by Alan's passing, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family as you go through this difficult loss.
We watched the service together, it was a beautiful tribute to a charming, kind and witty man. I couldn't help but smile. He was one of a kind and we will all miss him. His passion for great food was a joy, how he loved to search for the very best, whether it was chicken parm, Chinese white rice or the infamous rice pudding ( I am still confused, with or with out raisins ?)
Below is a reading a friend sent me when I lost my Mom in January. It brought me some peace as I hope it does for you.
With love,
Dave, Eileen, Acacia & Chelsea
Death is nothing at all. It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!