Eugoogly

I’m headed to the Midwest to say goodbye to a beloved uncle.

And I’m flattered, but a little scared, that my cousins have asked me to do the eulogy for him.

They liked the one I gave for my mother a few years ago.  And understandably, everyone is pretty spent after a death in the family.  Sometimes someone a little more distant has the energy to do what the family most needs.

I’m about to “report it out” — interview friends and family about what should be said, remembered, their stories.

Having watched so many  services for political figures, and written so many remembrances for NPR, in my own voice and for so many hosts to read, this comes, strangely, as a very natural act.  My dad has written some political eulogies and a beautiful one for his own mom — and the lines he wrote still echo in my memory.

A good eulogy is a thing of beauty.  It should sketch a life, its meaning and impact, its arc, and hopefully comfort everyone hearing it — uplift, reflect our shared sense of loss and our love and appreciation.

But that’s a tall order.  Have you had any luck putting memories to words?  What works?

Signed,

The Family Eugooglizer