Surprisingly I didn't even break a sweat today while giving the eulogy at my friend Dale's funeral. If you know me, you should know this is an uncommon thing for me. I still felt a little uncomfortable while up at the pulpit speaking, but I made it through it. I think each time I go through something like this it gets easier and easier.

One thing I learned from today was that I didn't know Dale as well as I thought I did. I think I had a really narrow view of who he was. But I guess what do I expect when I only know a person for roughly 2 1/2 years, and I am surround by family who has known him for all his life, and friends of his who knew him for over 20 or 30 years? Of course they will have more stories and more insight to his life. I did have people that knew Dale from his childhood come up to me and say they really enjoyed my stories about Dale, and so that made me feel better about what I had to say today.

Another thing I found interesting. One speaker today said Dale had nicknames for friends. His was something "Kabal Habal". And even after years apart Dale would great him by calling him by nickname. Dale never formally told me that I had a nickname from him. But one thing Dale would frequently say to me while helping him into my car was "Ekid Jakid!". I never asked him what it meant, I just thought it was a funny thing that he did. Whether or not it's true, I'm going to think that this was his nickname for me, or at least something special just between us.