What if I died today? Who would write my eulogy? This is an important question! Who would have the job of writing my post-breath tribute, the succinct summary of my existence here on earth, and how would they collect the data to make the decisions of what to put in and what to leave out?
I hope it's not the guy I cut off and then flipped off in traffic today. I hope its not my ex-wife. I hope its not one of the many I have wronged.
I think I want a comedian to have the job. You know, “the old switcheroo “-- have them laughing, so they don't focus on the solemnness of the event or the destruction that was behind the scenes most of my life.
From today's perspective, I would like the writer to stick with the facts—Son of, husband of, father of, worked here, and went to church there. Grab the details I posted on Facebook and Instagram over the years and piece together the story from that. Impressive, right?
I wouldn't want any of the embarrassments, mortifications, or humiliations resulting from my drunkenness to be readable long after I'm returned to dust. Leave my rap sheet out, and please don’t use anything from my TikTok account.
What if I was the author of my obituary? What would I like to leave behind, like “here are a few paragraphs reflecting the legacy of my life.” Would I focus on the dark periods of chilling intake and disturbing outcomes or the stages of light, warmth, and quality? Well, duh.
Before I move on, I need those memories of the bad to appreciate the good that ultimately came my way. But this kind of thing would have to be included in a memoir or novel of my life. Obituary, it's limited to just the priorities in summary form.
My best guess, if I were the writer, is that I would talk more about relationships and less about accomplishments and focus more on people than on practices. Maybe touch on places, not the obstacles and challenges that peppered my journey’s path.
If it were up to me, it would be a story of redemption. A tale of second chances. A love narrative – love of family. Love of friends and fellows. Love of life.
Was born – loved and was loved – died.
You see, they can only tell about what they see. The fact is that we write our obituaries as we live out our lives. Story points will be picked up, and the tale will be told based on what they saw us do. So, I have a chance to write every day by simply living an authentic and honest life – and so do each of the readers of this blog.
Get writing today – by acting out your legacy!
Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from sober.coffee podcast #96 Titled: “Danny - Aspen Ridge” The podcast dropped on 1/25/2023 Click here to hear the podcast
Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash\
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