A moment of rashness

I am not really big on public speaking.  OK I sometimes stand up in front of a class and tell them stuff, and I have also done the odd presentation at Uni open days, but other than that I hang back.  Even in my band days, as the bass player, I got to hang back and just play.

However, as we talked about my dad's funeral I rashly said that I would say a few words.

I let the idea settle for a few days before starting to consciously think about what I would say, but then started to realise what a tough job this was going to be.  His life had been very difficult and at one time or another he had managed to fall out with just about everyone that he knew - especially family.  I did not want to paint one of those horribly rosey pictures that leaves people wondering if they are at the wrong funeral, but at the same time I did not want to dwell on the many problems that haunted his life.

A tough one!

Then I hit on the solution.

I would treat it as a blog post.  In my years of blogging I have learnt to do exactly what I needed to do here!  So my "few words" have taken shape:

A short metaphor for what life was like for my dad and those close to him - a way of telling it like it was without the risk of upsetting anyone.  Then a series of enduring memories of time with my dad, memories that at least some of those present will share.  Things from when I was a child, things he did and said, things to bring a smile, like the time he built a rabbit hutch in the kitchen only to find that it was too big to fit through the door to the garden.  Not a biography, just a series of impressions.  I think it will work.