Like many of you, I miss the comments and insight that Mitch used to regularly provide here. (And I remain flummoxed on why he can’t logon to our site anymore.)
I was fortunate to be on his email list where he frequently shares heartwarming stories, articles and photos. I felt that it’d be nice if we could “keep in touch” with Mitch, even if only virtually and vicariously. So today’s post is courtesy of Mitch.
A Heartwarming Piper’s Tale
As a bagpiper, I was asked by a local funeral director (with whom I’ve worked before) to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who died all alone, with no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a newly opened pauper’s cemetery in the remote countryside near where we live, and the homeless man would be the first person to be laid to rest there.
Sadly, I was not familiar with the backwoods area and became woefully lost. Not only being male, but also being dressed in my kilt and sporran, I elected not to stop and ask for directions. I continued to drive around until I finally found it … an hour later.
I saw the backhoe and the digging crew who were taking their lunchbreak, but the hearse and funeral director were nowhere in sight. I figured they waited as long as possible and finally left.
Embarrassed at being so late and unsure of what exactly to do, I apologized to the workers for interrupting their lunch because of my tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave where I saw the vault lid was already in place.
I assured the workers I would not hold them up too long, but felt that I needed to fulfill my obligations. The workers gathered around while I solemnly began playing my heart out.
As I continued to play the mournful dirges, I could hear the workers begin to quietly weep. I played like I’d never played before, from Abide with Me, Going Home, Flowers of the Forest, and of course closing with Amazing Grace with the workers joining in song.
Upon finishing and packing up my bagpipe, I headed to my car feeling contrite that I was an hour late and missed the actual service itself.
As I was opening the car door and putting my gear in, one of the workers came up to thank me, saying in a heavy Irish brogue: “Sweet Mary and Joseph, I have never heard nothin’ like that before – and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for over twenty years!”
A Baker’s Dozen Clever Ads and Messages – Courtesy of Mitch
11 Responses to “Today’s “Friday Fun” Is Brought to You by Our Old Friend, Mitch”
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I also miss Mitch very much on PP, but I don’t think it’s a problem caused by this website. I think his browser or other software has added some extra security to his system and he’s given up trying to resolve the problem.
Thanks for keeping us in touch with Mitch indirectly through his emails, though I hope none of the pictures you posted is “illegal” because of copyrights. You, more than anyone else, would know how much time it takes to find pictures with appropriate sources to use on a website. It’s also one of the reasons I don’t publish my Friday messages here as Joanne has asked me to.
I hope Mitch soon finds the energy and time to look into the access problem further and come back to us.
Ah – that makes sense.
Mitch is such a delight with his notes, news, and facts, and keeping up with what’s going on daily.
I miss not seeing him here on PP, but I do stay in touch w/him with my personal email(s).
I hope that he can get it resolved, and be able to come back on PP.
In the meantime, I hope everyone is doing well.
Thank you, Nameless for your great post.
What a great message and posting from Mitch.
Sure hope he’s doing well. I like others miss seeing his comments here on Politics Plus.
Hope he can figure out the network issue so he can get back online here.
Thanks Nameless for posting this.
UPDATE: I sent a screenshot of the article to Mitch, telling him I hope he gets his PC problem figured out. But also suggested seeing if a friend could bring it up for him, or using a PC at his local library.
If I hear anything back, I’ll let you know/
Excellent. I hope there is a local library – and that it has internet. This is Florida we are talking about, so it’s not guaranteed.
These are priceless. I told the Piper’s tale to Virgil yesterday (much shorter and not nearly as well) and the punchline was still effective.
Picture number one makes me think of the lastest catch phrase – Tell me you’re (in this case desperate) without telling me you’re desperate (or whatever) BBut all are wonderful – and together kind of constitute a microcrm of life on earth today.
Thanks Nameless. Mitch is indeed a gem.
It seems he’s having trouble because he didn’t ”do” the last couple of updates! I’d be willing to post things for him until he works it out! He’s become a treasured friend and I hear from him often. Let me suggest that….(off & running) pam
Pam, if you could help him to get up and running again, you would earn so much gratitude from readers here that you might … get tired og gratitude!
fantastic!