AM I HALF-WAY THERE YET?

GET A GRIP, RONALD! 

If you were half-way there, you'd have to live to be one hundred forty-eight! It ain't goina' happen! 

In the meantime, just remember this! Everyday of your life has been a gift, and will always be, especially going forward!  

I find it curious that many people are afraid to talk about death - the only thing I know of that is certain - as if talking about it, brings it on! I'm not afraid to talk about it or write about it. 


MY REFLECTIONS ON DYING

"Time flies when you're having fun!" At seventy-four (almost), I am enjoying my life, but it seems that the weeks are flying by. I notice it most when I visit nursing homes. I go to two homes every week-end. It seems like the visits are every three or four days, instead of once a week. 

Now I am not in a panic yet, but I do think about death more than I ever did before! I find myself every once in a while, when I am quiet and by myself, wondering how my life will end. 

This is something new that has come with age.  I think about it more often - not is a morose way, but in a curious way. I wonder what my end will be like. I have questions. 

Will I die peacefully in my sleep - just never wake up? Will I get old and sick and linger? Will I die in a violent car wreck or maybe a plane crash? Will I die alone or surrounded by a couple of family members or friends? Will I be conscious or unconscious? Will I know what is going on or will I be "out of it?" Will I die at home, in a hospital or a nursing home? Will I get to make some choices or will someone else be burdened with that?  Will I die peacefully or wracked with pain? 

I have no  way of knowing. I know that it is pretty much out of my control. It would be nice to think about dying at the altar saying Mass, but I could just as well be found frozen to death on the sidewalk along Eastern Parkway with no clothes on because of dementia.  Whenever it happens, wherever it happens, I just hope it is in a socially acceptable situation! All I know for sure is that denial doesn't work!

WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN, I WANT TO BE BURIED LIKE A MONK

Archabbot Timothy Sweeney, OSB, being buried in the monk's cemetery at Saint Meinrad Archabbey.  

  

Because I worked at Saint Meinrad for 14years, I get a free casket from the selections they sell commercially. I chose the simple monk's casket. 

  

I'll be buried at my home parish of Saint Theresa in Rhodelia.

I will be buried in the priest section of Saint Theresa Cemetery very near my parents and grandparents. 

FINALLY

I don't obsess about dying, but here are a few quotes about dying that I find very helpful as I "wait in joyful hope."