By popular demand: (Thank you Lola and Eagle Heart!)

One Month

If I found out I had one month to live,
What would I do that I’m not doing now?
Don’t want to die saying “coulda done, shoulda done”
Don’t want to die saying “coulda been, shoulda been.”
Like a potter at the wheel I take life and mould it
Touch clay, shape clay
Form it to vessel
Kiln dry, bisque fire, glaze and cool
Container of hopes and love and sorrow.
We can’t create earth
But we can turn the wheel
Caress the clay until we build
A pot of grace, amphora of strength
Capable of holding whatever life brings.

What would I do if I had one month to live?
I would love you completely
Attack life with a passion
Follow my dreams
And effect whatever is necessary to become the person I need to be.
I would actively seek happiness
Revel in joy
Strive for excellence
Create beauty.

What would I do if I had one month to live?
Everything I’m doing now.

© Meredith Karen Laskow
from my book "Galloping Words"

Mij, thanks for mentioning this. In case anyone is interested in buying it, here is some information from their site. I think it might be a good thing for a family to own and pass around.

ON OUR OWN TERMS: Moyers on Dying was produced by Public Affairs Television, Inc. and presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York. Video tapes of the series may be ordered by calling Films of the Humanities at 1-800-257-5126.

Meredith, I especially love this:

What would I do if I had one month to live?
I would love you completely
Attack life with a passion
Follow my dreams
And effect whatever is necessary to become the person I need to be.
I would actively seek happiness
Revel in joy
Strive for excellence
Create beauty.

Wonderful, Meredith!

Dancer9

What would I do if I had one month to live?

Visit all the pastry stores around us and fill up.

Get a nose job, and demand an open casket!

Go on a balloon ride.

Visit each lady here that has meant so much to me.

Non stop cuddling with Hubby.

Swim with a Dolphin

Take the whole family to Disney Land.

Finally find that G spot

Take laughing gas, and giggle my way to the grave.

And this is mine alongside Dotsie's:

"We can’t create earth
But we can turn the wheel
Caress the clay until we build
A pot of grace, amphora of strength
Capable of holding whatever life brings."

Many thanks for sharing "One Month" here, Meredith.

I'm going down like Hannelore...

Amen, Hannelore, AMEN!

I'd have to add cheesecake to that list...how many pieces of cheesecake have I said no to in my life???? WHY???? This thread has made me wake up to the reality that life's meant to be lived...I need to take the plunge and throw fear and caution to the wind and just dive right in...the next time a piece of cheesecake comes my way, I'm digging in with two forks!

mmmmmmm. The kind with strawberries on top.
Here's to life's little pleasures!

Thanks for the link Mij... I'll get back to investigate it better soon.

OH, and thank you so much for the poem, meredith. I read and reread the excerpt Dotsie pulled. Then had to go back and read the whole poem after MA referenced some more. I wish I could close my life's poem with your ending lines - I'm striving to be able to close it just like that.

and, hannelore - you gave me a hardy chuckle!!!
I actually paused long enough to picture some of the things I'd do... and came up with:

I'd get with my grandchildren and my girls as often as possible.

I'd make a video or write a booklet for each.

I'd cleanse my heart and soul of all bad feelings - much of what I'm working on doing now, but I'd accelerate the process.

I'd make sure my underwear were clean everyday.

I'd also keep my house cleaner, giving away things as the days passed.

I'd touch everything - flowers, trees, grass, horses, art - feeling the essence of everything I could.

I'd write a longggggg letter to my DH.

I'd write thank you cards to everyone who ever touched my life... phone calls wouldn't do, because I might get side tracked or interrupted.

I'd call Shirley McLaine and Billy Graham - I'd love to speak with them in person... I doubt it'd ever happen.

I'd swim with the dolphins, too, hannelore... I've wanted to since I read a book as a child about a young girl who did swam with wild ones in the ocean.

And, another thing I've wanted to do (inspired by a scene in one of Elizabeth Berg's books) is sleep in the forest under the light of the moon, by myself.

Heehee, I already eat cheesecake.

I'd run up my credit card to the max....