Top Ten Thursday - Resting in Peace

Welcome to Top Ten Thursday!

I recently lost a schoolmate and encouraged you to list the top ten things you want to happen after you pass away. Organ donation, song requests for the funeral, your partner getting re-married eventually, whatever comes to mind. 

So when my time has come (and I like to think it'll be long after Colin moved out and has his own family) these are the things that are important to me:

1. I hope to be able to die peacefully. Like falling asleep and just drifting away. Before I do so I'd love to get the chance to say goodbye to those who are important to me. I figure this must be awkward, more so for the ones left behind than for myself. What are they supposed to say? "See you?" "Good luck?" If they're at loss of words they should simply say "it's been a pleasure and an honor knowing you. You made a difference on this earth." That'd actually be really nice. 
2. If I'm sick with no realistic chance of meaningful recovery, I don't want to be resuscitated or be kept alive by tubes and machines - except if it's required to keep my organs viable.
3. Anything that may be of help for a sick person may be acquired. Organ Donation is close to my heart, pun intended. At least this way passing away makes some sense.
4. I want to be cremated because the idea of rotting away in a casket is too scary. My gravestone has got to have some bling-y components! Thomas Sabo should probably design it.
5. Location: just as we didn't get married in a church (but a castle), I think it'd be nice to gather at the local creek (should I still live around here. If I eventually made it to San Diego, then of course La Jolla Cove is the place to go)
6. At my funeral people may wear whatever they please (especially if it's a beach funeral). No need to rent some hideous black suit or something that makes them even more uncomfortable than they already are. 
7. Music: Elton John (don't let the sun go down on me, candle in the wind), Phil Collins (another day in paradise), Whitney Houston (I'll always love you) and Mozart (I wish I knew how it's called. Gotta find out) should be played.
8. In a slide show I want people to see about my favourite happy places in California, South Africa and Australia and my favourite happy moments.
9. In Switzerland it is customary to either bring flowers or slip the family some cash to contribute to the costs of this funeral - I'd much rather people donated that amount to a charity of their choice.
10. Now about the funeral meal. I am conflicted. When I attend a funeral I go there to pay my respects to the deceased person and their family. Usually afterwards you're invited to grab a bite at a nearby restaurant. Some turn out to be real feasts with people getting (near) drunk and seeming to have a fun time. Now in my book that's wrong. I get that life goes on, and mourning people are supposed to move on, blablabla, but please, can we at least wait for 24 hours or so??? On the other hand it's an opportunity for family and friends who usually don't get the opportunity to get together to, well, get together. If they use this time to connect and celebrate their lives and friendships, OK. Still, if I have something to say about that, I say no meal, no drinking! Go home, hug your loved ones, take a nap or a walk!

Phew, that was a tough post to write. I hope its content will not be relevant for a long time. I didn't mention the allocation of my assets. A) I don't think there will be much and B) I trust my husband to do what's appropriate. Yes, I do assume I'll go before he does which is against the statistics - but hey, it's my post!!

Have you thought about what you want or don't want to happen after you're gone? Care to share? Please do so in comments below or link up your own blog post, using the linky-tool.

What's next?

On March 30 we will do a review on how well we've been doing on our New Year's Resolutions? Sign up here. 

It will be the last post for the next four weeks. A couple of us are going to be super busy posting every day (except Sundays) for the A - Z Blogging Challenge. 

Even though I have a couple of posts written ahead, I'd still like to take a break from Top Ten Thursday during that time. 

So we will be back on Thursday, May 4, and we'll talk about the top ten things that today's kids should learn at school - besides the usual math, reading and writing. I'd like to go more along the lines of life skills, stuff that will matter. Here's the sign-up.

Now please check out the other posts that linked up below!