Life – Page 4 – Writer, Author, Speaker

ADOPTED

[caption id="attachment_479" align="alignleft" width="225"] Kathryn at 18 months[/caption] It didn’t start out to be about me, but it was. In fact, it’s not about me! But LOL, it is about me. And it’s about lots of other folks like me who were adopted without knowing who their real parents were. And still don’t. A reporter in the HARO (Help A Reporter Out) space needed a few quotes about adoption. I replied that I was willing to help her. The reporter, Chandra Evans, interviewed me and the result is in this article, which turned out to be quite a lot — more than I thought...

Death,Fear,Life,Plans

Deadlines

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignleft" width="281"] What do I have due today?[/caption] Deadlines are the lines drawn in the sand, the air, and on calendars. They are imaginary lines past which one should not go, or you'll die. Die of what? Failure? Disappointment? Losing a job? Not answering a need? Shame? Deadlines are a form of communication. "I need this by noon so we can move forward on the project." There should be no room for negotiation in a deadline. There is no room for negotiation in death, is there? So why do people push up against deadlines by crushing the work to...

Death,Life,Museums

Skulls at the Museum

As we rounded the corner at the bottom of the dark stairs, the person in front of us stopped so quickly we ran into him. He sucked his breath in, and turned to leave, but there was no where for him to go. He was stuck. The skulls grinned with vacant eyes, but we knew they knew we knew they were long dead. But still. Why the grin? Did they think the man was silly? Or was it something else? Death wears a smile because she knows. She knows when and how, although it is not she that decides either...

Birth,Death,Life

Death Is Not Random

Death is not random. It just looks like it. Freak accidents. Chance missteps. Absurd consequences of non-events. Birth is not random. Looks like it but it’s not! How’d you get here, then? Of all the little eggs that don’t get fertilized down there, How…Did… YOU...Come…To…Be? Planning, I tell you, planning. It’s the same on the other end. Your death is as planned as your life. The slots are all there, waiting to be filled. Yours was waiting to be filled by you when your egg and sperm met in a specifically non-random mating of DNAs. It was a carefully planned time....

Death,Fear,Hacking,Life,Plans

What Would You Do If You Knew?

I sometimes wish I knew when I was going to die. I'd make different plans. Maybe I'd travel more, worry less. Why worry? What's to worry about if something can't kill you? Well, I have thought about that. Living in a mangled body would suck. Severing one's fear of death would take one thing off the list. Hah. I don't worry about dying. I know that I will. Now I can know when. Ah, but the biggie is knowing how. Don't know that yet. Maybe that's for later science... hacking the "HOW" code, now that we've cracked the "WHEN" code....