I went to a Celebration of Life today for a man who died at an early age - 50 something - with Alzheimer's Disease. According to the people who were at his memorial service, he was an amazingly SMART man with a wicked sense of humor, a love for music, and sparkling eyes. His wife had spearheaded the foundation of the Helping Hands DropIn Center where he spent most of the last 10 years of his life. When funding for the Adult Drop In Center was cut, she found a place at the Seventh Day Adventist church where they could meet 3 days a week.
I loved the way it was decorated - and along each wall, there were posters with pictures so the "patients" could remember partsof their life - "people who love me" - and there were labeled pictures of people intheir life - and the person was in each one of them, too - so that they could see they were a real person, even if they couldn't remember it. Places they lived - with themselves in the pictures, pets, even things they like to do . .
It was a reminder to me - what will people say about me when I go? I've dealt with several funerals of late and the thought seems to be uppermost in my mind. I don't want to be known as the woman who always lost her keys. . . .(although that is true - and I think Don should bury me with my keys - LOL). I'm going to be thinking about this over the next few weeks - it is the season of "elul" a time of repentance. I don't have a lot of big sins in my life - I try to keep a short account with God - but it can be used as a time of introspection, reflecting, looking backwards, and forwards. I'll let you know what I come up with . . .
Now, where did I put my keys?
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