Writing A Eulogy

A memorial service is being held on Saturday for my father-in-law, who passed away a few weeks ago.  My husband has asked me to write a eulogy for him.  I wrote one for my mother, another for my dad when they left this earth.  Those were easier because I had shared my entire life with them as their only child.  Writing this one is proving harder, not because I don't have as much material, but because I have too much.

We have had condolence notes from friends who remember him fondly and share their memories, my husband has spoken to his father's sisters who shed their light on his life, our own family circle has contributed a lot of material as well, the lady in his life has touched us with her stories, and my husband can't stop telling me about all his father did to enrich his life.

My difficult task, then, is choosing what to include and what to edit.  All of it deserves to be said but that is impossible in the limited time I have to deliver this message.  So, it isn't the actual words to paper that are hard; it's which words.  I don't want to offend anyone by omitting a fond remembrance, and it is important to me that those attending the service know the full measure of his impact on this earth.

On Saturday afternoon, I will read this eulogy (at my husband's request again because he doesn't feel emotionally able to deliver it himself just now) and I hope that what I read will do justice to a man that I loved dearly and who loved me in return, for which I was blessed.  And now I must get back to the composition of it, and pray that I do him proud.