What are you going to do? Wait to die, or....

One of the sad things is as you get older

is, that you start to lose your friends.

The King and I lost two friends in the past week.

One of them married us, almost 18 years ago.  

Then you start looking at your own expiration date.

Especially  when you are older than the ones you lost.

I tend to live life on a daily basis, without looking

or thinking about the future.. kind of like I have an

inter self, that knows I am not dying in the near future.

Or if I think about next year or what ever.. I vision myself

being here.    But I am not delusional as sometime my

children get a little antsy, if something is said about

doing some thing in say 5 years.. I tell them.. well, if I am

around.. They don’t like to hear that….but they know

I am right. Usually the conversation kind of quiets down

until I make a joke of it.. and they easy up.. You see,

I am a realist, I know it is coming.. I just don’t dwell on

that.. 

Many years ago, while working at the nursing home,

we had a woman who lost her husband, and then

got a bad cold .. enough the family put her in the

nursing home, fearing she wouldn’t be taking care

of herself..  She was only 69!  She did have the blues,

and figured life was pretty much over.. We talked about

her husband.. and later when I felt comfortable.. I asked

her what does she think her husband would be doing

if she had gone first..  She thought, and said “I guess

go fishing more.” And we laughed.   I was getting

ready to go on vacation..for a week… so stopped by

and told her I would see her when I got back.. She

told me.. I will be here, no where to go… I told her,

she has lots of places to go.. she still had her home.

She could get an apartment if the house was too big

for her to take care of it.. Rent it or sell it.. Lots of options.

and then I said the words I had told several over the years.

Ruthie, what do you want to do?  Do you want to stay here

and wait to die.. or do you want to go do things, until you

die??.. it could be a long wait, you know. She laughed at

me and gave me a hug.   I came back a week later, and

she was gone.  I asked one of the girls where is Ruthie?

She said.. oh, yea, she left but she told me to tell you…

Hey, Cis….I decided to go live until I die.. and she was

going to go see a sister in Arizona for the winter. Then

see if she could talk her sister into a cruise ship trip.  God

Bless her..

So you see, that is my vision.. I am going to live my

life until I die.. I won’t be signing any long term warranties,

but if I follow my Aunt Harriet and my dad.. I have up to

10 more years.. and I sure would hate to waste them..

So as you lose some of your friends.. it is sad.. but don’t

sell yourself short… 

There is a saying that I use to have at the bottom of my

emails…  and it says it best… there is several different versions of it.. but I like this one best…

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out,

With a drink in one hand.. and chocolate in the other….

shouting "Holy Shit, what a ride!"

How about you???