Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and days of old lang syne ?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
This is the anthem, or at least a familiar tune, to most New Year’s Eve party attendees.
Guy Lombardo is often credited with popularizing the use of the song at New Year’s celebrations in America. It’s one of those “famous” songs that many know how to begin, but very few can finish with any amount of credibility. In everyone’s defense, it may be the combination of Scottish words in an English song that make this not quite sound right even when it is.
December is the time of year when you expect to hear the little ditty, so I never saw it coming as I sat at the funeral parlor several years back for my fathers wake. As difficult a time as this was, it had been a nice afternoon getting a chance to see some of my father’s friends and business associates. During his long career as an electrical engineer, my father had also been a City Councilman, a member of the Lions and an Elk. The Elks was the brotherhood that I remember most. They had a nice new facility in the town, and we used to love to have lunch there when I came home for visits. I remember giving my father a hard time when he became the Exalted Ruler, or as the Flinstone’s use to call it, the Grand Poobah. It was no surprise when this group called me at my father’s home following his death and asked my permission to perform the Hour of Recollection in his honor at the funeral home. I had no idea what this was, but it sounded like a nice way to remember my Dad.
I probably should have Google’d the ceremony. From the hallway, I heard Auld Lang Syne playing and a gentleman loudly saying, “It is the Hour of Recollection.” In walked a dozen men in black suits with large clock faces hanging around their necks. Now, I was in the thick of raising teenagers and had seen a rap singer named Flavor Flav in his music videos plenty of times. He always had a very similar timepiece hanging from his neck.
Now, I want to tell you that I am that person that giggles inappropriately any time I am under stress. Someone laughing at a wedding….could have been me. A coughing attack during a military inspection…almost always was me, covering, because they don’t allow giggling. You would have been proud of me. My father’s memory and all these well intentioned and solemn men kept the chuckles at bay as they rang the bell eleven times and my father’s name was added to the roll call of those who will come no more.
I just wanted to have anyone’s back out there who may hear the New Year’s Eve song when you least expect it.
