Pledge Allegiance to the Hag

Don't cry for me when I'm gone
Just put a quarter in the jukebox
An' sing me back home
- Eric Church

Sing me back home... What a wonderful sentiment. I've been to too many funerals where the person officiating didn't know the deceased very well. I found their words to be meaningless at best, and grating and insulting at worst. I have a lot of anger toward the man who officiated at my mother's funeral. It was more about him than it was about her. And he wouldn't let us kids speak during her funeral, only before it started. When both my grandmother and my uncle died, on the other hand, their pastor knew them well, spoke about them eloquently, and invited a lot of the family to speak.

I don't belong to a church and there is no Pastor Max to officiate. But I do believe that the power of music is just as powerful as prayer. And just as healing. Music has carried me through the most difficult times in life, and helped me celebrate the most momentous occasions. And why shouldn't it "carry me home" in the end? People say they want their funeral to be a celebration of their life. I do too. But I want it to be a celebration through music. And what is that music? Here are the songs I want to sing me home, in this order...

Go Rest High on That Mountain - Vince Gill
....a good song about being called home
Carefree Highway - Gordon Lightfoot
....it just speaks to who I am
Summer - John Denver
....it's about continuing on
I Hope You Dance - LeAnn Womak
....it's about hope for the future
Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills and Nash
....for my love of music, the water, and the night
16th Avenue - Lacy J. Dalton
....for believing in your dreams
The Dance - Garth Brooks
....for my mother
You'll Accompany Me - Bob Seeger
....for Gregory
Baby Girl - Sugarland
....for all of my daughters
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
....because I want my ashes to go in the St. Croix River, to the Mississippi, to the sea