Cal.E.'s Korner

 As is a tale, so is life. Not how long it is, but how good it is that matters- Seneca.

C.: Hey, d.c., are you feeling better today?

d.: Yes, Cal.E, for now, I am.

C.:  Since you put your favorite quote from Seneca at the beginning of this blog, I know that you have something to say, so I’ll give you the floor.

d.: Thanks, Cal.E. As Eudora and I were making plans to see her very sick father, my mother passed away unexpectantly. However, she had all the arrangements made for this many years ago. That is why Eudora and I followed my parents’ and my grandmother’s lead and made a living will, even though were aren’t as advanced in age as my parents and grandmother were. However, if someone would like to give his or her family a gift posthumously, this is an excellent idea. It relieves the living relatives of having to make decisions about their loved one’s funeral arrangements and care, which is stressful.

Also, flowers are nice, but these only last about one week. If you would like to honor someone who has passed away, please give to their favorite charity, or theirs. This will last much longer than flowers. My personal favorites are the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and, of course, my favorite hospital, M.D. Anderson. These are good charities, but if you have another worthy charity as your favorite, give to that charity in honor of the deceased.

Now, as for my mother, she had both a long and a good life. She was 92 and one-half when she died. She was the encourager in our family, and my father was the rational one, as engineers must be to be successful. She encouraged my writing, for which I am grateful. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit her artistic talent.

May mother was a teacher, which fit her personality well. I think that my constant thirst for knowledge was inherited from both parents, and I’m grateful for that. My mother as also fascinated with the medical industry. She now has three nurses and an M.D. in her family. She also got to see all of her children grow up and have children, and she got to wee her grandchildren have children. That brings me to my next point.

I won’t mention a place, because stating my beliefs about that got my post deleted, although it was in the context of a dream, which can mean anything. My mother’s first great-grandchild passed away before she was able to hold her, but she can finally meet Haley, which is a good thing.  The sadness of someone dying is mostly felt by the living, not the dead.

My mother lived a long, full life with plenty of friendships, because she actively sought them out. The joke in my family was that, if you lived in the same county as my mother and she didn’t know who you were, then you didn’t exist.

Finally, my mother didn’t suffer long, and I’m grateful for that. In fact, as I stated at my grandmother's funeral ( and many times since) if I could choose a way to die, it would be to live into my nineties and then go to sleep one night and not wake up, which they both did, and I’m grateful for their peaceful deaths.

C.: Well, said, d.c. I don’t think I can add anything to that, so I’ll just say so long, and we’ll se you tomorrow right here on Cal.E.’’s Korner.

d..: To my friends and my mother’s former students sending me their condolences, they are appreciated..