The ultimate presentation

I have given countless presentations and talks in my life. I have worked as a substance abuse counselor at methadone clinic and I also worked in a prison with substance abusing offenders. I also spent some time developing my routine as a stand-up comedian. In the last 5 years as a professor, I have prepared for class, local, state and national presentations. I still get nervous and I have learned to use that energy to my advantage.

The most difficult presentation that I have done was a eulogy about six months ago. It was for my best friend, David. It was not a presentation that I had prepared for like all other presentations in my life. I remember the day that his brother Michael tried to find me. He called any and every number. He found my work number and I had just missed him. I sat at my home computer and decided to check Facebook. There was a direct message from Michael’s daughter, Angela.

The message said to call her father Michael because David had died. At the time, Angela was not on my friend list. I thought spam? So I called David...no answer. I looked back at the message on my computer. I dialed the phone number and Michael answered. He gave me all the information that he had and it was true, David was found dead this morning. Toward the end of the call, Michael asked me to consider a eulogy at the funeral. I said “yes, I should be able to do that my Monday.” It was a Tuesday.

I learned that our friend Oscar was also going to be part of the eulogy so we decided to work together. Over the next six days, so many memories flooded my mind over and over. I settled on an approach that represented David well. Jokes were interspersed with many memories that I shared with David. In many of the memories there were lessons. I finally was happy with my DVH top ten.

Now how to deliver this at the church I still was not sure how that would get done. I didn’t want to cry, even though the tears were an intermittent stream just about every hour. The night before, Oscar and I had shared our ideas and decided who would go first. He thought I should go last because of the humor, and he didn’t want to follow me. By the next morning, the order had changed. I still was not sure if I could get through this presentation without tears. Right before the Mass, his brother and sister play some songs with the music group in the church. I figured, “I really have to get through this now.”

When it was my time, I walked up to the lectern in the church and delivered the presentation of a life time. I only missed one joke, no one new. The audience laughed in the right places and possibly cried at times, not my intent. I believe David showed up to help me like he had for so many times in my life. It is the best presentation that I have ever done and probably will ever do. The ultimate presentation.

Something I learned three months later from Michael was the diagnosis that David was given at the age of 10. He was not supposed to live beyond adolescence. David had a form of muscular dystrophy. David defied the odds; he lived three times as long as his doctors thought he would. Those who considered David a friend were given a gift. I know I am not the only one listened to and help get through tough times. He helped us mature. He helped become the Man that am today. I took me almost 6 months write this essay. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.