Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We are redoing our wills, partially because our lawyer retired, and also because in this covid threatening world, and given our ages, we want to have everything as easy as possible for our kids if they have to take over. I first had a will in my twenties, because I had a spouse threatening my life. And I've kept updating, tweaking details, ever since. My husband knows my feelings and respects them, though he is more squeamish about what a will implies, namely mortality. I, however, had my favorite uncle die when I was a toddler, my grandmother and boyfriend die when I was twelve, my two grandparents die when I was in my twenties, my best friend die when I was 29, and on and on. I've always felt mortal. My mother was from hellfire Baptists who had the body in the living room for a week, children had to see the deceased and kiss them, there were services and viewings and potlucks and the visiting of graveyards. When I last visited my cousin who is 12 years older than I, we stopped at three cemetaries to see my aunt's headstone, her husband's, my grandmother's, and various other relatives. My husband tactfully went along for the ride. There was nothing secret about death in my mother's family, and it has enabled me to comfort where others are nervous, support where people are stunned. I am passionate about living, but so were all of those who have been taken. Acknowledging them is important to me, and to accept my own vulnerability. I will join them. That's a fact.