Hi everyone, welcome to thanks for being here, a short weekly pod to remind us of the many essential

and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday I'll read a submission from a listener

of Kelly Corrigan Wonders, could be wedding vows or about

mitzvah toast, a eulogy or retirement speech.

We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better selves and remember our highest values.

We encourage you to share this podcast each week with one person you love, maybe someone

you miss and need to bring closer,

someone you want to feel your appreciation or admiration or both.

This is thanks for being here was submitted by our producer Tammy Stedman's lifelong best friend, Lauren.

It's a eulogy, Lauren wrote several years ago

for her Uncle Den.

Hi, my name is Lauren Smith Medina and I am Uncle Den's Goddaughter.

I'm very honored to be asked by Kai and Dakota to deliver the eulogy.

It quickly dawned on me that I would have to write something befitting of my uncle then and to be honest it started to stress me out

Every one of you knows that my uncle was a very funny guy. You could probably describe him as hilarious.

So my daunting task was to deliver a hilarious eulogy and make my uncle proud.

I'm pretty confident he would want everyone laughing at his funeral instead of crying.

I still cannot believe he's gone. I just saw him sitting on the patio at the shore,

digging into the appetizers with the rest of us, Pelagrino in hand, peering over Keeley's boyfriend

Frank's shoulder, watching how he prepared his clams, going in for a taste test, sitting with

Mike Carter in the grass talking politics, carefully watching

whomever was on grill duty and offering his unsolicited two cents, but always with humor.

...