Katherine Mansfield, a British short story writer, born in New Zealand, once said the following, in 1922:
Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order. This is what life has taught me.
Her words ring true and remind me of myself. Whenever we embark on a road trip, I always make sure that the dishes are done, the wastebaskets are emptied, and the bed is made. Patiently, my husband stands by the door waiting (and probably thinking I’m a little odd) as I scurry to set things right before leaving.
Life is uncertain, though it seems trite to say so. While we always expect to return, the fact of the matter is, sometimes we don’t have that opportunity.
As we breezed through the “change only” window of the toll booth on the highway yesterday, my friend mentioned to the toll booth worker that there was a back up of cars in the other lane, headed north. The man replied that there had been a fifty car pile up and one fatality, earlier in the morning. It has snowed the night before. Well, that one “fatality” was one person, trying to return home, no doubt.
Life is about returning. We return to our family of origin, carrying our babies. We return to our homeland, if it is somewhere other than where we are now. We return to our past, by visiting other people who shared our experiences there. We live today, returning to a lot of yesterdays, some pleasant and some we’d just as soon forget.
Some day, we will all “return” to our ultimate home, whatever one envisions that to be, the earth, at the very least, and “heaven,” if we are lucky. In the meantime, it’s a good idea to make sure the sink is scrubbed, the floors are clean, and that our “paperwork” is in order. The new year is a good time to think about your personal documents such as wills, bank accounts, etc. Not to be morose and dwell on a subject most people do not wish to think about, I’ll say that death is just another journey, the final one of many “trips” we will take. It’s always good to plan ahead.
As for me, I’ll try to avoid leaving dust bunnies under the bed. How about you?
Patricia
