Episode Summary
Decide on your GPS and program it.
Episode Notes
Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is 60 Seconds, your daily dose of hope, imagination, wisdom, stories, practical tips, and general riffing on this and that.
A few episodes back I wrote about the need to make our end-of-life wishes known. A friend commented that she had done so at some point but now it was lost and she would leave it to her family to figure things out.
My mom died after a week in a coma and a short battle with lymphoma during which time we could not or would not be able to ask about or prepare for her end-of-life. When mom died on a Friday it was a scramble of 7 siblings to carry out all the many preparations one isn’t faced with until they are. We did it, we did it well, and then we grieved.
End-of-life wishes are like a GPS for your loved ones, a way to say to them in their time of grief: Here, my beloveds, I can help you; I have this map of what to do and how to go.
Practical Tip: Decide on your GPS and then program it.
Yes to this.
My mother thinks she is generous when she says that we can decide because she is fine with anything. But I am gradually convincing her that this is her gift to us: We will be busy mourning and a script would really help.
People are usually more than willing to be generous with their help even when they are embarrassed by the idea that they will be the center of attention.
That said, many don’t like the subject of their own mortality at all. Pray that the last couple of years have taught us not to be afraid to breach the topic in time.