#15 - Write my will

Of course I complete the weird and slightly morbid one first.

I kept scouring my list for something I could easily complete in a day so that I could complete at least one goal in the first week of this blog, and my eyes kept catching on this one!  So I decided to bite the bullet and get to it.

The reason this goal is on my list is because my last living (natural) grandparent, my grandmother, just passed away this fall.  It continually amazed me how easy my grandmother made everything for us.  Not only did she have her will in order, she had complete lists of how she wanted everything done upon her death.  To say she was meticulously organized would be an understatement. In our moments of profound grief, we did not have to make any important decisions because an elderly woman with severe arthritis in her hands sat down and hand wrote every tiny detail out for us. It was an incredibly thoughful gift that she was able to give us, even after she was gone.

As I started writing it, I was bored by all the legal mumbo-jumbo.  Then I got to the part where you write down what you want to leave to whom. At first I was at a loss... I mean, I don't really think I have much of value.  Then I began to imagine what belongings of mine might mean something to my loved ones, should something happen to me.  Ideas came pouring out onto paper, and I had to add several sections for more people after the allotted 4.

The end result was that I realized how much I love my family and friends and how much I believe they love me.  If something happened to me, I think they would want things of mine that meant something to them and that they could remember me fondly by. Imagining them smiling and thinking of me every time they wear a piece of my jewelry was quite an experience.  Morbid?  Maybe.  But the fact is that death is a part of life and something that everyone will face eventually.  I love the idea that even when that moment comes for me, I might still give my loved ones a reason to smile.

I did this because I aspire to be as thoughtful and generous a person that my Grandma Bray was. So this goal completion is dedicated to her, Julia Frances Bray, a woman who accomplished anything she set her mind to.