Conserva Tu Tenedor

There was a woman who
had been diagnosed
with an incurable disease
and was given only three months to live,
so she started to get her affairs "in order,"
contacted her priest
and invited him to her house
to discuss some aspects
of her last will.

She told him what songs
she wanted sung at her funeral,
what readings to do, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.
The woman also requested
to be buried with her favorite Bible.
Everything was in order
and the priest was getting ready to leave
when the woman remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing," she said excitedly.

"What is it?" the priest replied.
"This is very important," the woman continued.
"I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The priest stood there, stunned, looking at the woman,
not quite sure what to say.
"Does that surprise you or not?" the woman asked.
"Well, to be honest,
I'm intrigued by the request," said the priest.

The woman explained,
"In all the years I've attended
social events
and engagement dinners,
I always remember that when
they cleared the plates from the main course,
someone inevitably leaned over and said,
'Keep your fork.'
It was my favorite part
because I knew something better was coming...
something like chocolate cake or apple pie.
Something wonderful and substantial!
So I want people to see me
in my casket with a fork
in my hand and I want them to wonder,
'What's up with the fork?'
Then I want you to tell them:
'She kept her fork because the best is yet to come.'
The priest's eyes filled with tears of joy
as he hugged the woman goodbye.
He knew this would be
one of the last times he would see her
before her death.
But he also knew
that the woman
had a better concept of heaven than he did.
She knew that something better was coming.

At the funeral,
the people passed by the woman's casket
and saw the beautiful dress she wore,
holding her favorite Bible and the fork
in her right hand.
Time and again the priest heard the question,
'What's up with the fork?'
and time and again they smiled.
During his message, the priest
shared with the people the conversation
he had had with the woman
not long before she died.

He also talked to them about the fork
and what it symbolized for her.
The priest told the people
how he couldn't stop thinking about the fork
and that they probably
wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it either.
He was right.
So the next time
you pick up a fork,
let it remind you that the best is yet to come...