Over the last couple of years there have been some real triggers that have made me wonder how people would describe me. It is not so much as a measure of what others think if me, but focuses me in on how would I describe myself and does it jive with what I want, with who I want to be, how I want to live my life, and am I being authentic?

Writing Mom’s obituary notice this year was tough – how do you put 86 years of life into a few very brief paragraphs? What is most important? How do you convey a sense of not just what they did with theor “dash”, but who were they, what was the underlyingotivation and consistent theme that guided them through life? It made me wonder what I would even say with my own obituary? I do know that I would want it to read something along the lines of:

“Glenna was on safari in Africa, got out of the landrover one too many times to pee (we all know how tiny her bladder was), when she saw a leopard (or lioness) approach and wanted to scratch the pretty kitty behind the ears and give it a great big hug.” as opposed to “Glenna was t-boned in an intersection on her way to another meeting”.

And we all know how I felt about the possibility of ” Glenna lost her life to cancer“. That one was definitely NOT going to be my obituary.

I have been anticipating my breast reconstruction surgery after the double mastectomy over a year ago now. It will be a relief, I think, to feel put together again and more importantly have confidence that this will be the last surgery for a very long time. As I have anticipated this I have had the opportunity to chat with many folks about the surgery and my choice of surgeon. It is interesting – in five different conversations with five different people in five different locations at five different times they have all used the word “artist” to describe his work.

Makes me ponder, what single word would I use to describe myself, my life and the way I choose to live it? And is that where I want to be? Does it confirm that I am on the right path for me? 

With love and a dictionary at hand today😉, Glenna