A View from the End: Writing my Living Eulogy

Eulogies are the short stories that summarize the chapters of a long life that that shape how we live on in the hearts and minds of others when we’ve returned to stardust. Although eulogies are shared as a poultice for grief when we are no longer contributing authors, the reality is, we are writing our eulogy a little bit day-by-day. 

However, like many first drafts, we can be easily swept along in a life story whose title misleads the reader, or whose chapters lack intention or whose charmingly flawed main character never does slay the monster. 

The worst fate of a eulogy in my opinion? Waiting until the final act to realize that you are the heroine of this fairy tale. ​​ Enter the living eulogy.

I stumbled across an article about living eulogies early in 2017 when contemplating the deep and ominous topic of “What is my purpose?” Over the following months, I periodically jotted notes about what I hoped my eulogy might say but never did the hard work of actually writing it. Unsuspectingly, the little nudge I needed to put pen to paper was the grandma in the music video for Macklemore’s Glorious (my theme song for 2018) who when asked what she wants to do that day to celebrate her 100th birthday, responds, “Anything? God, I want to do it all.”  ​

Read More