Spirit Rising Ministries

I drove four hours on Tuesday to attend my Uncle Ben’s funeral. He and my Aunt Thelma live way up in New Hampshire and I had not seen either of them for many years. I used to get to visit them and my two cousins when I was a little girl. I wondered if, after all these years, I would even remember what the house looked like. I didn’t. But, what I did, and always have remembered was the warmth, love and laughter I experienced when I used to go there.  Would it still feel like that? And, if so, what was their secret? How did they remain so happy, living what I considered to be such a modest, ordinary, simple life? Did they have a deep, spiritual practice like myself or, true to character, was it something much simpler?

The answer was revealed at the funeral service when the Pastor looked at my aunt and began playing her and Uncle Ben’s favorite song that, she said, they used to sing all the time:

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Mister Bluebird’s on my shoulder
It’s the truth, it’s actual
Ev’rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!

From Walt Disney’s Song of the South.

Thank you, Uncle Ben and Aunt Thelma, for the joy you added to the world and for showing me how to let the way be easy.

Let your spirit soar and may you have a zip-a-dee-do-dah day!

Paula