WONDERFUL BLOG AND CHALLENGE SITE

I was visiting Ingrid Dijkers blog earlier today and from there got into this wonderful blog by Michelle Ward which I fell in love with!  Apparently there is a monthly challenge on this blog which is great fodder for our journals!  I love the creativity of it and of course seeing Ingrid's work on this challenge just made me want to run for the paint jars!

Check them out!  If you decide to take the challenge share it with me!  I'd love to see what you do!   This month they are on Crusade 48:

This month's challenge is to chronicle where you've been and what you've done.  It can be a years worth of events, or just one special outing.  Record the physical evidence in addition to your thoughts and observances.  Things to include:  airplane tickets or subway tokens, matches from restaurants (or the menu you swiped), programs or brochures from an event or outing, a calendar page, ticket stub, badge from the museum, photo from a gathering of friends, an invitation, a postcard...you get the idea.

 

I am going to do this one first after I make the journal.  I am going to do it the size that Ingrid did - 7x14 because it sounds awesome.   And then I am doing challenge number 24:

This month I challenge you to think about the unthinkable.  Consider what, if any, final wishes you might have.  Write them down and tuck them away in an envelope in your jewelry box or bible or special place.  I truly believe it is a gift to your loved ones to spell out your preferences.  We may think that none of it really matters because we are in a better place but if you have thought it through, even to the smallest degree, you may diffuse a lot of tension. 

 

I can barely write this post which is proof of how we dance around the subject of death.  My experience makes me passionate about asking you to give this subject some thought.  I’m not going to spell out all the things that I think you should be writing in your Final Wishes letter – you will know what’s right for you.  You may find your letter gets longer or shorter as life experiences give you addition insight.  Think of how much planning went into your wedding.  Now imagine something just as significant to your family, but with less time, compounded by grief.  It’s a gift to do this.   We hope to lead long, healthy lives and doing this doesn't alter that perspective - but we shouldn't leave difficult decisions to our loved ones if we can help it. 

 

I don’t want this to be a morbid or morose exercise.  It can be thought of as a loving act.  Do it for you, do it for your loved ones.  Back in high school we had an assignment to write our own obituary.  It was a lesson in goal setting and forecasting as we imagined what we hoped would be said about ourselves.   Writing my obituary didn't make me suicidal, just like deciding where I want to be buried, or if I want to be buried,  doesn't mean I want to die.  Do you know the poem The Dash?  The day we are born and the day we die doesn't mean as much as what we do with dash between.  Think of this crusade as a similar assignment.   

For this crusade:  write a private letter stating some of your final wishes.  Do this for yourself.

She lost her sister.  I too had the privilege of speaking to my father about his last wishes but it was the most difficult thing I ever did.  I think this crusade - though some might find it a little morbid - is a kindness to those that you leave behind.  I think I would like to have a journal - with thoughts for my family - that they would only see when I pass.  Things that maybe I wont have the time to say.  Uggh.  Morose huh?  But I still think it's a beautiful project.

These crusades will be fun!  And God knows I need some fun right now!