Renowned author Laurie Halse Anderson brought her audience to laughter with her comment, “You’re gonna die!” It was the end of her tale about what she and her husband had learned from a tough year when both of them had lost several relatives they loved. She said for some time after that experience, whenever they began to obsess over something that was not all that important, one of them would say to the other, “You’re gonna die,” and they would laugh and put the problem in perspective. She went on to challenge her audience to take advantage of every opportunity and ended humorously with, “You’re gonna die.”
Several things have added to that wisdom for me in this last year. As we downsized, we found we could not give away to our children the silver and china we had saved for special occasions. Nobody wanted it. We should have gone ahead and used it. My 100-year-old aunt died, leaving a treasure trove of needlework and crafts to nieces and nephews to the third generation. Some of them were beautiful pieces saved for some special occasion that never came. One of them was a pair of hand-embroidered pillowcases with countless meticulous stitches. The final seam on one end and the edging on the other was never completed. I’ve decided to finish the pillowcases and use them. Even if I make her mark of 100, I too, am going to die.
Having said all that while admitting that at some time, I am indeed gonna die, I’m doing everything I can with the help of my next-door neighbors to keep safe from the pandemic. I’ve got a few years to go to make Aunt Dee’s 100, and I don’t want them stolen from me by somebody named Corona.