Just before you die

 

If you had only a moment to live,

Who would you hug? Who would you kiss…first and last? Who would you tell “I love you”?

Would you change yourself? Would you care about others?

Would you find a purpose or no purpose at all? Would you roll over, or stand up and fight?

Would you find it in your heart to forgive and ask for forgiveness?

 

What would be the last thing you’d want to learn? Where would be the last place you’d want to visit? Would you go in peace with yourself or kicking and screaming? In dignity or despair?

What would you tell your loved ones?

 

Can death be beautiful? If your cup is full, can death be something to look forward to.

Do you fear death or is it a new chance to start something beautiful?

Is it the end or a new beginning? Is it a permanent state or just a transfer point to another dimension?

 

I accept the inevitable and adjust my mind accordingly.

I open my arms in embrace and face it square on. I welcome it at the time it’s bound to come.

I fear not death. I suspect in many cases death may be a blessing.

Death only takes a moment. It’s life that is the problem. It lasts for almost 100 years, now.

You can stuff a lot of misery into 100 years. Why deny myself a moment of pleasure?

 

Death is just an inevitable part of life. Death, just like birth, you have no control over.

The only thing you have control over, to some degree, is what you fill in between those two extremes.

 

I have filled it up with good stuff. Not all organic and biodegradable, but good stuff I have carefully picked and chosen, cultivated and nourished, so that when it’s my turn, I can go with a smile on my face.

 

My point, as well as my serious wish, would be this:

Cry not because I am gone. Smile because I was here.

The worst thing you can do to me is a bunch of snot-nosed weepers at a funeral.

The best thing you can do is to burn me and then throw a party. A happy party.

Remember me for something positive and happy. Not with tears and snot.

 

Don’t worry about my body. It’s only an empty shell at that time.

Burn me. Release me. My soul will already be gone, by then.

Most of you never even noticed. Few of you would understand.

 

It’s not a time for sorrow. It’s a time for joy.

I will be ready and prepared when time comes.

It will be better prepared than I have ever been at any hiking trip

And I will go see now, awesome Worlds.

 

To me, there is no Grim Reaper. There is only yet another beautiful sunrise.

I know who I would hug. I know who I would kiss. Now and forever.

I know who I would tell “I love you”.

She knows, too.

Both of them.