The conversation about my death started with an innocent moan “Ah, so many books, so little time to read.” I was suddenly struck by a horrible thought.
I turned to Sahana and said, “Oh my gosh! What happens if I die before I finish the book that I started? How awful will that be? I will never know how the book ended!”
Sahana concurred. “That is awful!”
“You should read aloud the rest of the book to me. Even if I am clinically dead, my soul may hover around, restless, until it finds out how the book ends.” I advised.
“Oh absolutely. I will read aloud next to your body and finish the book for you. I will never let you go without you knowing how your unfinished book ended.” Sahana answered magnanimously.
Then her eyes started sparkling with ideas for my book themed funeral.
“And guess what we will do? We will burn the book with your body and spread the ashes. That way you will never be separated from the book!” Her eyes were still sparkling.
“Make sure you don’t burn a library book though!” The conscientious library user in me warned her.
“Mom! Of course I won’t burn a library book. I will buy a copy and burn that one. I will return the library copy. Sheesh! And then…..”
She continued with a few more book themed funeral ideas and I got equally excited about my potential death and subsequent funeral till reality dawned that we were excitedly planning my FUNERAL. Hello??? I am only 53. I hope I have a few more years ahead of me before all this can take place.
I said to Sahana, “Hold your horses. Do you realize you are excitedly planning your mother’s funeral? With glee? With sparkling eyes?”
She looked slightly horrified and back tracked right away. “Well, if the pharaohs can plan for afterlife, why can’t you? If it was good for the pharaohs, it is good for you. You will take your most loved possession with you into afterlife. What if there are no books after death?”
We both shuddered at the thought. No books?? Who wants that kind of existence, either in physical world or when we cross the rainbow bridge?
I called Ryan from the kitchen. He was busy making his famous mile high sandwich for dinner. I told him Sahana was planning my funeral. He said, “Mom, you will not need a book when you are six feet under.”
“I want to be cremated, not buried. Thank you very much.” I retorted.
“Yeah Ryan, she wants to be cremated.” Sahana chimed in.
“When you are dead I will do whatever I want. I will bury you. Then I will put some inane quotes on your behalf from some inane TV shows that you have never watched so the world does not realize how much of a nerd you were.” Ryan said with a wicked grin. My funeral plans were well underway still.
“Do NOT touch my nerdom! I went to a college which specializes in producing nerds. I studied literature on top of that. I own nerdom as my birthright (schoolright?). After I am gone, I want the whole world to know I was a nerd of the highest order! Also, I am going to write an Advanced Medical Directive so you cannot bury me.” I was still going strong about my funeral arrangements.
“Haha, I will tear it up.” Ryan joked.
While the siblings started bickering about my cremation and burial, I just laughed. This moment was certainly blog worthy. Sahana did not think the blog will show my children in very good light but I think they are hilarious and oh-so-cute. As the years go by, moments such as these become rarer and rarer. I have written a lot about their sweetness and innocence in this blog over the years. I wanted to capture this moment too. A moment where we laughed out loud together. A moment that I will put in the treasure chest of memories so they remain.
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