Two and a half years ago, I struggled for a day and a half to write a eulogy for my father.  I poured my heart and soul into those words, and even though I am pleased with what I produced, I feel there was so much more that could have been said.  I pressed myself to try and capture the essence of the man that was my dad.  I set out to write something as thoughtful, touching and witty as Bob Costas’ eulogy for Mickey Mantle.  After all, this was my dad and he never did anything half-assed.  There was no way in hell I was going to half-ass his eulogy.

As it turns out, I have received nothing but compliments about what I wrote.  I’ve had grown men tell me how much they related to the words I spoke, all the while fighting the tears welling up in their eyes.  I’ve had friends call me bawling because they had just read the touching memorial to my father. My eulogy to my dad has been praised by family, friends and strangers alike, and I look back and smile knowing my last gift to him was so well received. 

Too bad I didn’t take the time to tell him all of that before he passed away.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out the word eulogy is not necessarily associated with death.  The word is derived from two Greek words, the first meaning good or well and the second meaning word, phrase, or speech.  All this time I expected the meaning to be something dark or sad.  Instead, it is something we should all do everyday - sing the praises of the people we know and love.

Eulogies of the living, although rare, are not wholly uncommon.  We see them whenever someone wins a lifetime achievement award or when someone is being inducted into a hall of fame.  Comedians have made an event out of eulogies, with one of the biggest honors being a roast at the Friar’s Club.  Still, we don’t hear these speeches and celebrations called eulogies, for everyone knows that eulogy is a four letter word.

How would you feel if someone came up to you and said, “Hey, buddy.  Would you mind if I write your eulogy and publish it in the local paper tomorrow?”?  You’d probably look at them as if they had two heads and try to decide which head you were going to punch first.  It would be insulting and shocking.  Yet that is the stigma with which the poor word has to exist.  Rather than being something positive, the pleasant gesture that is a eulogy is forever damned to be looked down on as something dire and to be avoided.

I say no more.  I declare that going forward we all should embrace the concept that is a eulogy and celebrate the word by celebrating the people we know and love.  Break out the pencils and laptops.  Scribble on napkins and notepads.  Make the time to write something good and well about a person in your life.  Tell them something positive about them and how much you appreciate knowing them and having them in your life.  Seize the opportunities that present themselves to give someone a shout out, a thumbs-up or an emotional high-five.  Eulogies should be about the here and now.  They should tell the world how wonderful someone you know is. 

If we wait until someone is gone, those words will only fall upon deaf ears. 

Angel awoke early in the morning, in the middle of a dream that was both bizarre and fascinating.  She immediately realized the story of her dream was unfinished and tried to force herself back to sleep so that she could see how the story playing in her subconscious ended.  “If only dreams where like DVD’s,” she thought to herself.  It was 5:47 and already there was something on which for her to dwell.  “Another great start to another great morning,” she sarcastically sniped to herself.

Then Angel turned and saw him.  The familiar face of the man lying next to her, his eyelids fidgeting as his mental movie was still playing in his head.  She thought to herself to be quiet.  No need for both of them to have their dreams prematurely interrupted.  So she sat and stared, gazing intently at the facial features she’d come to know so well.  The chiseled jaw line that terminated in that distinguished cleft chin.  The cheek bones that sat perfect and symmetric in his face, making his appearance seem almost presidential.  The smooth, silky hair that hinted at the idea of receding but still provided a youthful and boyish look.  This was her man, and every morning she pinched herself just a little bit at the sight of him.

The other day I had the chance to be in the audience for the Mike and Mike in the Morning show at Disney’s Boardwalk.  In the course of the show, Mike Greenberg mentioned how he got to experience Disney’s Magic Kingdom for the first time through the eyes of his kids.  Specifically, his four year-old Stevie.  This made me think about the numerous times I had been to Disney and how it all changed the first time I went with my kids.  It truly is a different experience.

Seeing things again for the first time is one of the many benefits and joys of being a parent.  It’s a subtle reminder of the everyday items we tend to take for granted.  As an IT professional, my days are filled with e-mails, instant messages, text messages and the occasional page (yes, I still carry a pager).  So it was almost second nature when I took my Nintendo DS and showed my daughter that with it I can connect to her Nintendo DS and we could IM each other. She thought it was neat, but my son Daniel thought it was the next best thing to oxygen!

So I sit here pecking away at the keys on my laptop watching my two kids revel in the magic and mystery that is Nintendo’s PictoChat program.  At first I had to explain to Daniel that typing a message on his DS, sending it, then running over to his sister to tell her what his message is defeats the purpose of the whole thing.  Nevertheless, it is still cool to feel a newfound appreciation for a technology that to me seems so commonplace.

Of course the vicarious euphoria is not limited to gizmos and gadgets.  Every time we go somewhere where there is a person in costume, Daniel’s smile stretches from ear to ear.  I don’t know what his affinity is to mascots and other costumed characters, but it’s clear to see he truly enjoys it and as a result so do I.

It’s been a while since I have gone to Disney World with my kids.  After seeing them just work away with their DS’s and go back and forth and back and forth, I am thinking a trip to visit Mickey won’t be too far away.  Besides, I haven’t been to Disney with Lee, and the only thing that compares to seeing things through the eyes of your child is sharing a wonderful experience with the person you love!