There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover

Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

I want that song played at my funeral.

You see, I married a man whose family is from Dover. That's Dover, Tennessee, not Delaware or England. I usually go to Dover once or twice a year. Thanksgiving is usually one of those days. I may go this year - I'm not sure. This year's been weird so far. I really don't know what I'll be doing.

When I was in elementary school, my parents used to take us camping down at Land Between the Lakes (LBL), just outside of Dover, but I didn't go there at all from about 1980 until 1986. During my first year of college, my best friend (at the time) & I rode through Dover on our way to visit her parents, who were staying near Paris Landing. Around that time, my grandparents bought land near there too. In high school (& the first year or so I was in college) I had a special friend whose dad grew up in that area too - in fact, he went to school with Randy's aunt.

I guess Dover was just meant to be a special place for me.

When I was crazy about the "special friend" I mentioned a minute ago, I liked listening to the Righteous Brothers, & that's when I discovered the song "White Cliffs of Dover."

I knew Randy was the one when, a few days after our first date, he played HIS Righteous Brothers album for me.

So, that song, my funeral. And now, if you're there, you'll know why. Hopefully that won't be anytime soon. I am not sick. I HAVE thought a lot about death today, though. We lost a member of our church today. He was there taking communion with us, right next to me, this past Sunday. He had a heart attack yesterday & died this morning.

Mom's former pastor died this week. I think he was buried today.

I wrote about Porter Wagoner the other day. A lady who works down the hall from me is the daughter of a country singer who died in the 1970's. (For now, we'll keep her identity private.) I have a VHS tape of the Opry Christmas special from 1967, & her dad is in this video. I told her about it the other day, & she wants to see it, so I dug it out & watched it myself. Of course, this was one of the videos I brought back from Granny's house a few weeks ago. I imagine this lady will cry when she watches it. I thought I would. One of the songs performed was "Christmas at the Opry," where the late Archie Campbell mentions many Opry stars who had passed. Now, almost all the stars on that tape are deceased, with the exception of Dolly Parton & 3 of Porter's Wagonmasters.

A young lady at church lost a good friend in a car accident Sunday morning. She came tonight to the Youth Sunday rehearsal, & she talked to Robbie & me about how hard it is to lose a friend so young. We looked at each other. We knew. I told her I would look for the poem that meant so much to me when one of my friends died during my senior year. I couldn't find my old green copy that I kept under plastic for years & years, but I found the poem on the Internet. It has obviously given a lot of people the comfort it gave me. It goes like this:

My Father’s way may twist and turn
My heart may throb and ache.
But in my soul I’m glad I know,
He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astray,
My hopes may fade away,
But still I’ll trust my Lord to lead,
For He doth know the way.

Tho’ night be dark and it may seem
That day will never break;
I’ll pin my faith, my all in Him,
He maketh no mistake.

There’s so much now I cannot see,
My eyesight’s far too dim;
But come what may, I’ll simply trust
And leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift
And plain it all He’ll make.
Through all the way, tho’dark to me,
He made not one mistake.

The poem was written in 1932 by A. M. Overton, a retired minister, upon the death of his wife. It meant a lot to me that week in 1984 when nothing made sense. It means a lot to me now.