Celebrate Good Times

I stared, paralyzed, as a co-worker showed me Sunday's obituaries, folded neatly in fourths with the one of interest open-faced on the counter. Every Saturday, the boss orders lunch for us because typically we’re running around like proverbial chickens with our heads cut off not able to stop and run to the back to re-heat last evening’s supper. Our choices are limited to whichever restaurant is delivering that day and many times we opt for the local deli. Ricky, our regular delivery man, was an outgoing, friendly, and sweet guy. He incessantly gushed about the many kids in his life ranging from his own to his grandkids, nieces, and nephews, the number of them reaching high into the double digits. From my own experience with Ricky, he seemed to bring a smile to everyone he encountered. I stood there, looking down at Ricky’s portrait, reading the names of all of the kids he spoke lovingly about, partially shocked that he passed at what I thought was such a young age, and also because the realization permeated my thoughts that one truly never knows when they will depart from this world. The very reality of this thought makes you evaluate your own life thinking of whether the people that you love know how much they mean to you, or if where you are in life was built on the foundation of what really matters in this life, or the superficial.

I turned 30 years old this week, and after scanning the rest of the obituaries among Ricky’s, I also noticed a 26 year old guy as well as a young child and wondered if my 30th birthday was the mark of the halfway point in my life, a scary notion, or if that I will be one of the lucky ones to live to see the 100th birthday that one could only hope for. So much of my life recently has revolved around death. Prior to learning of this news regarding Ricky, the love of my life lost two of his family members, a great-grandmother and his grandfather. I never met his great-grandmother, but I did meet his grandfather, and I’m humbly thankful that I got the opportunity. I also know his grandmother, a sweet and resilient woman who lost her mother and her own love of her life in a mere matter of weeks. Since the funeral most of the talk about them has been in celebration of their lives by way of funny anecdotes and bittersweet memories, as the old cliché goes, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

Celebration is the theme of life in all that we do regardless of whether or not we recognize it, playing with our kids in celebration of youth, a home-cooked meal enjoyed around a table of loved ones in celebration of family, a newborn baby in celebration of love, a list of celebrations that could surpass any of our combined time here on earth. I say, it’s about time we all start to recognize, savor, and cherish celebrations, both big and small.



Celebrate Good Times by Kool and the Gang

Yahoo! This is your celebration
Yahoo! This is your celebration

Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you

Come on now

Celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure

Everyone around the world
Come on!

Yahoo! It's a celebration
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on!
It's a celebration
Celebrate good times, come on!
Let's celebrate

We're gonna have a good time tonight
Let's celebrate, it's all right
We're gonna have a good time tonight
Let's celebrate, it's all right

Baby...

We're gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let's celebrate, it's all right
We're gonna have a good time tonight (Ce-le-bra-tion)
Let's celebrate, it's all right

Yahoo!
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
It's a celebration!
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let's celebrate)

Come on and celebrate, good times, tonight (Celebrate good times, come on!)
'Cause everything's gonna be all right
Let's celebrate (Celebrate good times, come on)
(Let's celebrate)...