As a young piper, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a grave-side service for a homeless man, with no family or friends.? The
funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country, and this
man would be the first to be laid to rest there.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost; and being a
typical man did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late.
I saw the backhoe and the crew, who were eating lunch, but the hearse was
nowhere in sight.
I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, and stepped to the side of
the open grave, where I saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the
workers I would not hold them up for long, but this was the proper thing
to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I played
out my heart and soul.
As I played the workers began to weep. I played, and I played, like I'd
never played before: From/ My Home/ and /The Lord is my Shepherd/? to
/Flowers of the Forest/.
I closed the lengthy session with /Amazing Grace/ and walked to my car.
As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the
workers saying to another, "Jeezuz, Mary'n Joseph...., I never seen
nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for over twenty years."