I Know This Is Morbid, But THINK About It

If you died today, how would you want to be remembered? Have you considered your funeral arrangements? Do you have a life insurance policy? Do you have a will?

I have been pondering these questions with the deaths of my friends. I need a will. I need to purchase life insurance and I want to tell my husband where to bury my ashes in my Chock-Full-O-Nuts Can. Do you even HAVE a Bucket List?

But seriously...it's time for me to be a grown up and make these plans. I don't have any kids yet, but I do have a husband and a mortgage and it would be nice to make sure he is taken care of if something mortally unfortunate happens to me.

I've reached another oh-so-awful milestone in my life where more things on my body have started hurting and I'm feeling my own mortality. I have passed the point (just this year in fact) where I have cannot eat after 9 pm without dire consequences. I wake up with wicked, and I mean WICKED heartburn/indigestion etc. if I eat late at night.

But I digress...

I want a will so Uncle Sam doesn't get my assets. I want life insurance so that if something happens to me, Jeff won't lose the house, and I want to tell my loving husband how I would prefer things go after I die so that people won't be left guessing what I "would have wanted."

Do you want to be buried or cremated?
What songs do you want sung at your funeral?
What outfit do you want to be buried in?
How heavy a burden do I want to leave for my pall bearers if I do elect to be buried instead of cremated?

That got me thinking about getting serious about losing weight and about how I lack self-discipline.

I was watching the Hell's Kitchen finale with Jeff last night and these people are disciplined! We really like that show. I know it's awful, but I really live vicariously through Gordon Ramsay when he goes off on his chef's. It's just something I could never do in life because I don't have the power or the position, and it's just so wrong!

I always love the anticipation when the two finalists are behind those frosted glass doors and they have to turn the handle and see which one gets the job and the $250 Million dollar paycheck at one of Gordon's restaurants. What an amazing reward for all your hard work. I always feel a twinge of sympathy for the runner up. So close, yet no cigar.

So questions to ponder:

Do you have a Bucket List?
Do you have a will, life insurance etc.?
Do you think Gordon Ramsay has one of the best jobs in the world?

Getting Back on the Horse

I gained four pounds and I'm back in my size 14s. Ugh. I haven't been exercising and I've been grieving. Well, it's time to get back on the horse, strap myself to the saddle, and ride! I have started a food journal and I'm going to count points.

I want to lose 30 pounds. Encourage me. I need it.

I've started my second summer class...Urban Education at 10th and Spring Garden in the city. I'm going to carpool to try and save on gas and to preserve my sanity.

Good times!

I also need to get back out on the trail and do some walking and jogging. I may be downgraded to wogging at this point. I seem to have lost the endurance I built up when I was losing weight before. I am a backslidden jogger. The shame!

Oh well! I just have to get back at it again.

Are you exercising and trying to lose weight? What's worked/is working for you?

Pieces of Flair

My 10 favorite pieces of Chuck Norris Flair from my Facebook "Pieces of Flair" application are:

10. Ninjas only exist because Chuck Norris lets them.

9. Chuck Norris sleeps with pillows under his gun.

8. Chuck Norris beat the sun in a staring contest.

7. Death once had a near-Chuck Norris experience.

6. Chuck Norris only has two speeds: "walk" and "kill."

5. Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King and got one.

4. Chuck Norris doesn't go to the bathroom, it comes to him.

3. Chuck Norris is the reason that Waldo is hiding.

2. Chuck Norris knows the last digit of Pi.

1. Chuck Norris can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Thoughts

Losing someone you love is never easy; especially when you've known them all your life. When someone like that dies, there is a part of you, at your very core that is crushed and you never feel the same, not ever.

My world has been rocked for the second time in six months. December 31st I lost a 28-year-old friend. Yesterday, I lost my Sharon. But she wasn't just my Sharon.

She was Keith's wife, and Mindy and Keith Jr.'s Mom, Barbara's mother-in-law and a grandmother to her 14-month-old grandson. She was Sandy's twin sister, and my Mom's bosom friend and so much more to so many others and now she's with her saviour in heaven and she's free. For her, there is no more heart ache. It is those of us left behind that mourn our loss but those in heaven, get to celebrate her arrival and homecoming.

One day, we will all make the journey that our ancestors have made before us...the final journey that we must all make alone, crossing death's threshold. It's strange how we strive to be happy all our lives, and then when all is stripped away, friends, family, wealth and poverty, it's just down to us, and our relationship with Jesus Christ, or the lack thereof.

I cannot imagine making that journey without Christ; without some assurance of salvation, but one can only believe and trust, having faith that God will fulfill his promise to us, to take us to himself for eternity if we have acknowledged our need for his son's sacrifice on the cross and have accepted him as saviour.

God is once again, using the death of one of his saints to draw me to himself and remind me of our corporate, and final destination. Sharon lived her life like a comet, blazing across the sky, a living, loving representation of Jesus' love to everyone she came in contact with.

I cannot wrap my mind around it that she's gone. I miss her terribly, loved her dearly, and I can hardly wait to hug her again some day.

Gone Home

My Friends,

I am back home in Western New York for the funeral of a beloved friend. Sharon Foxton went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, July 1, 2008. She was a loving wife and mother of my two friends, Mindy and Keith Jr., and wife to her husband Keith. She was one of my Mom's best girlfriends. Sharon always took care of others first and made you feel like family. She was God's love to those around her and she will be missed.

Sharon had open heart surgery the day of my D and C (June 9). She went back into the hospital on Saturday, June 28 with complications from Pneumonia and fluid retention around her lungs. She was a giver to the end. As an organ donor, she was able to give life to people she didn't even know.

I'll be sure to post when I can.

Love,
Rigel