My husband made plans with a funeral director this week for what we want when we die. It is all taken care of so I will never think about it again. By the way, this is not a sad thing at all. It is just doing a bit of planning so someone else won't have to do it years from now. I am sure I will have a lot of funny things to say about the plan in the future! Stay tuned!
Everyday living is how I would describe my life. There are many ordinary days strung together. I truly am in love with my way of life.
In an article called Everyday Miracles on Retirement-Reflections, the writer asked the question:
What would you do if you believed you had less than five years to live?She was given a possible diagnosis that would limit her life to just 5 more years. The fact that she is a newly retired woman living as though she had many years left. What would she do?
I paused for a second and it crossed my mind that, at our age, we really should be living as though we only have 5 more years to live. We should not waste time. That fact that we are taking care of those things that people of our age take care of is an indication we know life is finite.
I thought the writer of that article saw the possibility of only 5 more years in a whole different way and I like that. See, she was talking about living for 5 years not dying in 5 years. There is a big difference I believe.
As it turned out the diagnosis was wrong. She was not given an expiration date. But, in a strange way, that time she waited for her test results changed her life.
My first thought was, how hard would that be and then I remembered that I am living that stage of life where time is getting short. I am going to live my life as though I have 5 years to live even though I think I have a lot more...I have a lot to do.
I will let you know how it goes.
Be well.
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It's an every day kind of thing, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIn a way yes...but like death, I only hope to plan for that once! :)
DeleteI also loved the way Donna and her husband approached a scary future possibility. I was so grateful to learn that the original diagnosis was wrong, but I am glad that she shared her journey and her thoughts with us.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I put together our trust a few years ago, and it was actually sort of fun. Since we don't have kids, we were able to designate beneficiaries that have made a difference in our lives - like our local public broadcasting station.
You know what, I hated to say it outloud but it was fun. We laughed and drank wine. Our will is in order pretty much but we are not wealthy people so our children will be fine with what we have. If they fight, we will come back and haunt them. But then they know that. :)
DeleteHi, Barbara - Thank you so much for sharing my post. I am so pleased that it made you think. I love your reflection. I have always been inspired by your zest for life. I look forward to staying tuned...for many, many more years!
ReplyDeleteI can feel you watching. It just gets better and better.
DeleteAndy and I had the conversation a few years ago when he had cancer. We must be doing it, because we couldn't think of anything else we would do differently if we were facing "the end of our retirement" (as an investment guy once said to us). We've been retiring hard for the past 15 o 16 years, but now have to accept the fact that we no longer have the balance, stamina, or whatever else to continue this lifestyle. In the future, we will be more sedately retired.
ReplyDeleteWe are changing too but we still are interested in creating. We are buying a 40 yr old townhome with plans to renovate it. We will not do it all ourselves but we know how to get what we want done. If we don't we will figure it out! As for stamina it comes and goes so we don't pay it any mind (as my grandmother would have said). Life goes on.
DeleteWe have been retired for over 20 years now. Wow!
Thank you for stopping by Denata.
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We retired nine years ago, moving from Colorado to the Pacific Northwest. We have been very happy, and I decided to get trained to become a facilitator to help people write their Advance Directives, and it's been incredibly interesting and rewarding. People are all over the map with what they want for the end of life, but it's been educational for me to ponder my own mortality. Good for you for getting that done. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, there's an expiration date but there is no date stamped on the package like the milk. But maybe there is? I've always said an expiration date was a suggestion and there are suggestions that the expiration date is coming - i.e., the body parts in a race south, the stamina that comes and goes, etc. Our community has just been faced with the death of 4 people in a MVA. They didn't know that this would be the day they would die. And herein lies the lesson for me - each and every day could be THE day, so like Tim McGraw sings in his song - live like you were dying.
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