My Obituary
My History
I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I lived there and my formative years were spent living in Albuquerque. I still love and remember Albuquerque as a much smaller town than it is today. Today it’s size and population are huge compared to the time I lived there. I haven’t been home in a very long time, and I’m not sure that I will ever return there. Times change. People change. The call to return is no longer as strong as it used to be.
I was married to the same man for 34 years, until he died. We had and parented two children who are now adults that are still the joy of my life!!! I will never cease to thank God for these amazing gifts of life He gave me!
My life
I hope that my life can be summed up this way. I hope that, at least once, I made someone smile or laugh. I hope that I made someone feel better about themselves. I hope that, at least once, I served with my heart and soul. I hope that I had fun!
My greatest joy and the most important task of my life, raising my children.
I hope that my children are loving and hopeful adults. (They are!) I hope that they will live continue to live their lives in the light of God being true to God and to themselves. I hope they remember me with joy and laughter.
Possessions
My children were my greatest possessions, and, yet, they were just a gift to be cherished while life remained in my body. My children were gifts. I could cherish anything more than these gifts.
However, I have a secret dream. My secret wish is that one bead I made survives the ages and has an archeologist shaking her/his head about the person who made it! That idea still makes me smile.
Have you ever written your obituary? How did you sum up your life?
I used to be an English teacher at a Catholic middle school. We were studying newspapers and I assigned my students the task of writing their own obit. Some parents were completely up in arms about it. I made very clear that it was not about the dying but the living. They were to project themselves into the future. Not one of them said they died at 21. They all lived to be very old surrounded by lots of family and friends, doing things they loved and aspiring to big and actually somewhat manageable dreams. It was very life affirming and I think that the kids enjoyed playing what if. I think that to raise good kids, to leave the community a better place to be and to make people smile is all worth it to me. Thanks for sharing that, Miss Mallory!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the day!
Erin
I agree with Erin. We also used to do this with the delinquents...we wanted them to be able to learn to project their lives out a little. To be able to accomplish "it" you first have to be able to conceive of it happening. Oh Yeah, here's a good one. I was kicked out of
ReplyDelete10th grade English class because for "future jobs" I said that I thought despite whatever I became when I grew up if I had raised happy, healthy, functioning children in our society I would have thought I'd done an excellent job. Whoa - out of class I went!
Last laugh is mine!