My Funeral Letter

On Thursday, I started my college classes back up with The Psychology of Death and Dying.  One of our assignments is to write a 500 word minimum letter to the people at our funeral with four citations in APA format.

Have you ever thought about what you would say on your own death bed before?

Yeah, me neither.

But, like a good student, I did my work early and actually put some thought into it.  I read it out loud to Ted (as you should always do with any writing you do, well, read out loud anyways, not necessarily to Ted), made a few adjustments and turned it in.

I thought it'd make a good blog post for you all, so here you go... even though I'm not dead yet.  I even left the references in there for you. :-)

MARY ANN MATTINGLY
TTW SEMINAR 1

PSY 211

DR. D

  To my dear family and cherished friends and anyone else who has come to say goodbye and support my family in this difficult time for them: thank you.

            Thank you for being there to lift each other up in this time of grief.  I would like to take this time to do the same favor for you.

            One of my favorite quotes from an amazingly profound and stupid movie: Monty Python: The Life of Brian is simple, "Always look on the bright side of life."  (Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones & Palin, 1979)  Picture the movie with the three men hanging on a cross singing and almost laughing in the face of death and smile, for I am smiling.  I am home running on streets of gold like the Bible said and swimming in the Crystal Sea (Bible). Perhaps I am  competing in that triathlon I never seemed to sign up for not worrying about my breathing or any pain that I may have- cause I don't have any and I don't want you to have any, either.

            I was trying to think of some things that you all may not quite know about me, but I have tried to live my life openly and honestly, loving everyone (usually). J  Life has been too short to not live it to its fullest and because of a mighty God who has blessed me with an amazing husband and children that any mom would be proud of- I have been able to do just that.  I can say that I have no regrets and I so very much pray that you can say the same thing, too.

            Ha, that reminded me of a story.  After I got my second tattoo, at the age of 29 or 30, my dad asked if I was done rebelling against him yet.  There was a time in my life that I thought tattoos were pointless and that if God didn't create you with one, then you shouldn't get one.  That was, of course, until I got my first of six tattoos.  Ted always told me you can't just have one like potato chips.  I was definitely not rebelling; rather I was ready to mark my body with what meant the most to me.  So here is a trip down tattoo memory lane for those of you who don't know all about them.

            It was 2002 and I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq in a very scary time to be in Iraq.  I had my wedding ring to represent Ted and our great marriage, but nothing but stretch marks for the kids so I had their names and birthdays tramp stamped on my back in forever ink.  After the initial sting of that wore off, I was yearning for another one, just like Ted said I would.  Soon came a tat of a heart with an American Flag waving inside it and a cross on the top so that if I were to die in Iraq, everyone would know that I was dying for the love of God and Country.  The third tattoo came a couple of years later in the form of a cross on my back to symbolize that "God's got my back".  Then it was time for something a bit more whimsical and colorful: a butterfly to represent freedom just before my second deployment in 2008.  The fifth tattoo is one of my favorites and most thought out.  There are four horseshoes upside-down next to each other.  The center two are the biggest to symbolize Ted and I with a cherry blossom in the middle to represent when we met- during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan.  A smaller horseshoe is on either side of the two big ones separated by a chrysanthemum (Japan's unofficial flower for Christian's birth place) or a Cherokee Rose (Georgia's state flower for Alyssa).  Horseshoes were used because I love horses, duh. J  Last but not least, my final tattoo was the most painful one of all and only took 15 minutes to get: the word "Shine".  That was my present to myself for completing a half marathon (something I never thought I would ever do).  The significance of that word on my foot is to remind me that every step I take, I am to, "shine, make them wonder what I've got" as the Newsboys would sing (Taylor, 2006).  We are all here for an amazing purpose in life and even if we don't know what that purpose is, we can still shine through out every step.

            May you remember that your life counts, has meaning, and is worth way more than we will ever know this side of Heaven.

            Today, celebrate my life and the memories you have had with me, but please don't mourn too long for as Chris Daughtry sang, "I'm going home to the place where I belong." (Daughtry, 2006)

Love and Hugs Forever,
Your wife, mother, daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, friend, and Soldier 

References

Chapman, G. (Writer), Cleese, J. (Writer), Gilliam, T. (Writer), Idle, E. (Writer), Jones, T. (Writer), & Palin, M. (Writer) (1979). Life of brian [VHS]. Available from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079470/fullcredits

Bible. (Revelations 21:21 ed.). Retrieved from http://bible.cc/revelation/21-21.htm

Taylor, S. (Writer) (1994). Going public [Music]. Available from http://www.newsboys.com/v10/

Daughtry, C. (Writer/Performer) (2006). Daughtry [Music]. Available from http://www.daughtryofficial.com/us/home