The Heaven Box: "You never know when you will have to go, so you'd better have your good stuff ready!"

The title of this "chapter" from Two Reluctant Seniors comes from my youngest son, Ian, who at age 5, after attending a funeral with me for a friend, had some good questions and some solutions.  The service was for a young woman, mother of three, who died unexpectedly and far too soon.

At the service and looking skeptically at the casket, Ian wanted to know where our friend Carol was.  "Is she in that fancy box?  Where exactly is she?"  I explained that what was in the fancy box was Carol's shell and that Carol's person-spirit had gone to heaven.  He was happy with that, not wanting his friend Carol to be locked in a box and put into the ground!

After we had been home for a bit, I discovered Ian packing a small cardboard box with his best stuff....his precious 'blanky' and some other special items.  I asked what he was doing and he replied "Well Mom, I'm packing my heaven box.  You never know when you might have to go, so you'd better have your good stuff ready!"

I'm reminded of this often as, lately, we're realizing that we are on the final laps of our time in this world, and we really don't know when we might "have to go!"  I'm not an obituary reader, however, this morning I looked them over to see what age seemed to be the most common for the end of life.  Today, it was 88!! 

Both of us are curious about how much time we might have left under the best of circumstances....will it be 10 years, 15 years, 20 years?  We both have lineal relatives who lived well into their late 80's and 90's, but we both have lineal relatives who finished in their early to mid-70's, also. 

It's very odd to be thinking about how to use the time left in the best way possible.  It seems only yesterday when we were anxiously awaiting age 16 so we could drive, age 18 so we could drink, age 21 so we could vote....we had all the time in the world and were rushing into life as fast and as headlong as we could.

Now, we are counting the possibilities and wishing time to slow down so that we can craft the best 'heaven box' and do all the things that are still undone....read all the books we want to read, see all the movies we want to see, travel all the many places in the world that are lovely and/or intriguing, see our grandchildren grow up, see our good friends and family often, and be with each other for a really long time!!  As one philosophic man said, "Youth is wasted on the young!"  I think we may have wasted some of it!   We want some of that back and can't have it!

Sooooo.....we are busy cramming our best stuff into life and making the most of whatever we are allotted.   We just don't know "when we might have to go, and we would like to have our best stuff ready."

Post script....the "Heaven Box" has become a tradition in my family.  Each time someone leaves us, my talented brothers craft a beautiful wooden box called "the heaven box."  Into that box go any written memories, messages, and mementos,  from those close to the spirit who has left.  It's a very special way for everyone to say goodbye and children, too, are comforted by this ritual.