When two of Lookout Mountain’s leading ladies died this week, it wasn’t lost on their friends that the two who had their hair appointments together every Friday were this week giggling together in some heavenly beauty salon.

I thought about that when I heard a bluegrass-gospel song called “The Meeting In the Air” come on my radio and – let’s be honest – how did we ever get things twisted around where we rejoice at a baby’s birth and then cry when somebody dies at the end of life’s journey? It is so obvious it ought to be the other way around.

We ought to pray when a baby comes, aware of the drama and pitfalls and tribulations that accompany every life I’ve ever studied, but, to the Believer, once you make it through earth’s journey and meet all those who have gone before “up in the air” then, brother, that’s when the big party gets started.

Leaving a lot of personal stuff aside, I can’t wait to find out about all sorts of things. For instance, I believe that God made heaven and earth and when He did, along came Adam and Eve. I’m easy with that but how many dinosaurs were in the Garden of Eden?

I’m not calling scientists and archeologists a bunch of liars – I’ve even seen the skeletons at the Smithsonian – but I’m almost willing to die to find out how Noah fitted a pair of hippos and two tall giraffes in that ark and want to know if any of those dinosaurs were on the boat.

Can’t you imagine walking down the “streets of gold” some morning and bumping into Abraham Lincoln? I can just hear him, “Hey, you just got here … explain that separation of church and state problem to me in simple words so I can understand it … is the ACLU really trying to get crosses removed from veteran’s monuments?” You don’t think a chat with “Honest Abe” would be a hoot?

How about sitting on some cloud with John Kennedy and Martin Luther King while Peewee Reese tells baseball stories? Don’t you think JFK and Dr. King would almost fall off? Or what about bumming around with Leonardo di Vinci and asking him for his ideas on remodeling a present-day bathroom?

Call it a moment of free thought but the possibilities are endless. The way I’ve got it settled in my thinking is that everybody there will have been forgiven and free of sin so what’s there not to talk about? I mean, you can walk right up to Louis Pasteur, the guy who invented the rabies vaccine, and talk about the “swine flu.” Of course, he’ll already know about it, the bubonic plague and AIDS as well, so instead we’d wind up playing croquet or something.

And how about God Himself? You don’t think it won’t be fun to finally understand why there are so many innocent kids in childrens’ hospitals across the globe, why there is a runt in every dog’s litter, and why there are such horrible epidemics of greed in business, corruption in politics, lawyers who knowingly tell the biggest lies to the courts, and no roses in winter?

My goodness, there will be heroes big and small on every corner or cloud – however the thing is going to really work. Can’t you imagine walking with every dog you’ve ever loved and seeing everybody else with a look in their eye like Katherine Hepburn had for Spencer Tracy?

Being in heaven is the big prize. Nobody will be hungry or sick or in debt. There will be a rock ‘n roll concert every night and while I haven’t figured out the beer deal just yet, there’s this guy up there that can turn water into wine and I figure He’s got a plan.

C’mon, can’t you hear Vince Lombardi’s laugh or watch Winston Churchill play cards against Helen Keller? What are we thinking? It is going to be more phenomenal than our wildest dreams can imagine.

So, you’re darn right, I figure that two of Lookout’s leading ladies giggled as never before this Friday and that the shampoo smelled better than … well, frankincense and myrrh. Heaven’s what it’s all about and the “everlasting life” clause in the contract means it’s going to last forever. I’m telling you – nothing can equal such glory.

So the more I think about it, I guess the single question that God won’t be able to answer is why more of us didn’t sign on for the trip.

royexum@aol.com