Epitaph

Today's One Minute Writer prompt was "epitaph". She said to write down what you would like your gravestone to say.

Hmmm. I have several that would work.

1. She loved her family, and she is not here.
2. She hated potluck, and she is not here. (We have potluck tomorrow. UGH.)
3. She loved horses, and she is not here.
4. She lived a simple life and she is not here.
5. You are here. She is not. :) (This is supposed to be humorous....like those signs at the mall that say...you are here.)
6. Step where ever you want to...because I am not here. (Does any one else get nervous at cemeteries and try to remember which side of the gravestone you can walk on?)

Perhaps it should simply say:

7. I am not here.

I guess the whole point for me is that I won't be there. I will be in heaven. I don't need flowers and flowery words. I hope that memories will live on through the people that I loved, not to memorialize myself but to comfort them by knowing that they were truly loved by me. I don't want my name on a building (I don't have the bank account to buy that honor anyway).

Really when you get right down to it.....none of that stuff is very important. But it is probably easier to accomplish material memorials than it is to leave your friends and family with the assurance that you loved them and cherished them and appreciated them. Much easier. I don't know why relationships are so hard to maintain and grow. But I do think they are the most important thing we can invest in. Now I want to live what I believe.

Maybe the proper epitaph for me and for any of the few that would ever seek out my marker should be:

I loved you so very much.

But I am not here.

I am in Heaven.

When it is time,

I want you to be in Heaven too.

Always and Forever,

Ann

Proverbs 3:5-6