Day 19 :: Stand on a riverbank with one you love
"The soundtrack for my last days would be Country interspersed with Classical. There would always be fresh, yellow flowers in vases around me. There would be massage. A lotta massage. Massage makes my aches go away and my days much more pleasant. There would be a Christmas tree. I love decorating the Christmas tree. One of my favorite things. There would be one last quilt to design, piece together and quilt. I love the creative process in putting together a quilt and watching it come to life.
My food choices would be lovely, if not exactly nutritious. There would be copious amounts of Pepsi poured over ice from Sonic. Why would I worry about gaining weight in just 37 days? There would be fresh strawberries. Hot from the oven homemade WHITE bread spread with real butter. There would be sweet corn. Medium rare steaks. Alfredo sauce on pasta. The expensive and yummy popsicles. Wintergreen mints on every countertop, in every drawer, and in my pants pocket.
If I knew I only had 37 days left on this earth I would go on leave from work (can’t quit – insurance comes from there) and spend time with those I love. I would also understand if those I want to spend time with didn’t or couldn’t spend that time with me. Spreading guilt at the end of my life is not a legacy I want to leave.
The only trip I would take would be a cruise around Italy that also stops in Greece. It’s a trip I’ve been planning for a while now and it’s on the calendar in 2 or 3 years, but it would have to be the trip taken before I died.
But mostly, even if nothing else happened on this list, I would want to make sure that the people in my life knew how much they have enriched my life and how happy they have made me and how much I truly love them. Because without that, the Pepsi just wouldn’t be as sweet."
-Kim Funk
I’ve long been mesmerized by what prisoners request for their last meal–have you ever seen those? The lists are so poignant and quite beautiful and sometimes–often–sad. So I was quite taken with Kim’s list. She made me smile with "hot from the oven homemade WHITE bread spread with real butter" and with those Wintergreen mints.
I love the photograph she sent along with her essay. A statement of the true, the real, the relationships of which she speaks at the end–the hand in ours after all the cruises and Pepsi.
I hope you buy yourself yellow flowers every Monday, Kim. A copy of Life is a Verb is winging its way to Utah to you.
(Send your answer to "What would you be doing today if you only had 37 days to live?" Those chosen to be posted between now and September 2nd–the official publication date for Life is a Verb–will receive a signed copy of the book!)
