Kirk blAug

I, along with my partner, went to an estate sale yesterday. I had never been to one before. There was a lot of cool stuff. The most interesting thing about it to me was not that I had an opportunity to buy someone’s old stuff though. I found myself thinking about who that person was and what I could learn of their life from the stuff I saw. It was the last day of the sale, so I did not have as much to go on as I otherwise might have. There was still a lot there to see though. The old gal who passed away seemed like she might have been widowed, but if so it was not very recently. She certainly traveled the world quite a bit. There were artifacts from China, Germany, Iowa, and throughout Europe. There were a slew of nifty handbags, fancy hats, fur coats, and delicate jewelry. This woman had a certain prideful way of presenting herself. Perhaps deservedly so. I found myself wondering what it might be that she carried from place to place in the big trunk that we found in the baseme

Occasionally while on a long drive I listen to podcasts. The other day while driving between St. Louis and Kansas City one of the podcasts I listened to was Penn's Sunday School .   +Penn Jillette  hosts the show with  +Michael Goudeau  and +Matt Donnelly  as co-hosts. Penn's Sunday School speaks on a variety of matters from the mundane to the absurd, but one topic Penn mentioned on episode 116 really made me think. I was thinking about it again today on this morning's run. "No one gets to choose their funeral" is the idea that Penn put forth on his show. This isn't the first time I had considered this. It was just the time it really settled in.  I have sometimes expressed ideas about how I would want my funeral. From an early age, saving my family from the funeral industry's exploitation concerned me. "You don't have to bother with a funeral and casket or any of that racket." I said to my family. "Just put my remains in a ba

You, whoever you may be, might die. Any moment now. You could just suddenly die of some cause that you will never know about. You will not know about it because you will be dead. I am not saying you are probably going to die, or even that it is remotely likely that you will die. That does not mean that you will not. It is always a possibility. It does happen. Not often, but it does. I am not saying anything here that you do not already know. Most people know that they may die at any moment. The thing that I have trouble with is that most people do not realize that they may die at any moment. There is a subtle but important distinction there. I think it is a good idea to take a moment to realize the brutal fact that you may die at any given time. As uncomfortable as it may be, it is good to think about the implications of that fact. Have you been doing with your life the things you want to be doing with it? Have you been working toward the betterment of yourself, your family, your fri