When Cory Monteith passed away on July 13, 2013, I was deeply affected by his passing. At that time, my daughter and I had watched Glee on a regular basis and Cory played one of my favorite characters on the show, Finn Hudson. So, when Glee: The Quarterback aired on October 10, 2013 and everybody was saying how they cried through the entire episode (even those people who didn’t normally watch the show), I decided to wait to watch it. I needed to give myself more time and distance.
Well, today, with the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, I decided it was time to view the Glee farewell episode to Finn Hudson. And, everyone was right, I cried non-stop from the opening scene until the closing scene. I guess it was inevitable. I’m an overly-emotional person to begin with. It doesn’t take much to get me to cry. This episode had me sobbing every time a new scene was introduced. I actually had to pause the episode and various intervals just to give myself a chance to breathe.
One of the quotes that touched me more than anything was when Carole, Finn’s mom, said:
“You know, when I would see that stuff on the news, I would shut it off because it was just too horrible to think, but I would always think, ‘how do they wake up every day?’ I mean, how do they…how do they breathe, honey? But you do wake up. And for just a second, you forget. And then, oh, you remember. And it’s like getting that call again and again, every time. You don’t get to stop waking up. You have to keep on being a parent even though you don’t have a child anymore.”
And then there is the quote:
“You know what’s tripping me up? This line between the two years. That’s his whole life. Everything that happened is in that line.”
The coach’s response was priceless as well:
“What are you going to do with your line?”
It really got me thinking about my line. What meaning will it have on those that I leave behind? I didn’t do much in my life so far. I don’t know how many people’s lives I’ve touched. I know there are some who will remember me when I’m gone. There might even be some who will feel a hole in their lives when I am no longer there. But how much impact will my life (or death, such as it is) really have on those people?
“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
Angela Death 