Sunday, April 30, 2006

Dying Choices

My brother Fred used to tell the joke about the guy who got on the bad side of the Mafia and suddenly found himself in a room with a noose hanging from the ceiling, a bottle of poison, a gun, and a tank of water. "How do you want to die?" he was asked. "Of old age," he said.

Every once in a while I spend a bit of time wondering how I'm going to die. There is no particular fear or dread in this, ("for me to live is Christ and to die is gain") although obviously I'd prefer something simple and sudden to protracted and painful.

My friend Sharon announced the other day (can't remember the context) that, "Oh, mercy sakes, no, I do NOT want to live to be a hundred!"

Well, the truth is, I'd like to live to be 103 like my Grandma Yoder, with her mind tack-sharp up to the end. (But with just a teensy bit more humility and humor, please) It would really be fun if the whole clan bowed and scraped before me like the Yoder multitudes did to Grandma.

However, I could go earlier with a bad heart (Miller genes) or (more likely) I could space out while driving and pull in front of a truck.

My sis Becky with her terrible asthma thinks she'll die like Aunt Lyddie, 87 pounds and tethered to an oxygen tank.

My latest cold is settling into my chest again and as always making my asthma go bananas until I feel like I'm turning blue, so maybe Becky and I will end up wandering the halls of the Evergreen Manor together, pulling our oxygen tanks behind us.

Actually, I'll probably go in such an utterly bizarre way that it would make a wonderful story, but I won't be here to tell it. Arrgghh.

(And in case you're superstitious, No, I have no premonitions.)

Quote of the Day:
"Any time a preacher wants to make sure he has an attentive audience, he should start preaching a series on the Song of Solomon."
--Matt, since Paul still hasn't decided where to go after The Commands of Christ

5 comments:

  1. i'd like to die in a tornado. my cousin from illinois tells me i'm crazy, but i think it would at least be exciting. i don't wanna die of old age. i'd rather die young. i dont wanna live past 75. and i DON'T think you're morbid for thinking about it... i think about it alot. :)

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  2. i want to live long enough to hold grandbabies, travel to alaska,
    and visit dorcas and becky in the nursing home.
    i probably will live til i am 88 and be one stubborn, crazy old coot! just so i go out smiling and leave lots of good memories behind...
    geneva

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  3. Well, while we're indulging this, I'll express a desire to live long enough to meet geneva when she's a "stubborn, crazy old coot" and when I can go sing for them at their nursing home once a month. :)

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  4. "have I at last found the elusive Termil???"

    well....not sure on that one....tell me more =)

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  5. About a year ago someone who signed herself Termil commented on a post or two of mine. I figured out she was from Mississippi and knew my sis Margaret. I have a sneaking suspicion I've found her...and she's acting all innocent.

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