Kimchi is riding her leaky boat of a body into regions of the sea for which she has no charts, (with regular shouts of “Ship going down!” followed by laughter). She is laughing, crying, addressing her “bucket list”(bailing is low on the agenda), cooking, going for rides in the woods on the golf cart to visit folks and let her dog get some joyful exercise, etc.
She is sending out signals to the rest of us—signals that are not “Save Our Ship” SOS’s. Instead, messages that attitude matters, that we are more than our bodies, that life is a blessing and leaving the body behind might just lead to even more interesting adventures!
Kimchi is being real without getting stuck. She is mourning the loss of various parts of her life as they tumble one by one onto the compost pile, while also walking curiously towards death. She is living her life to the fullest even as it is apparent that she gets closer to death every day. As do you, as do I—it’s just easier to see hers coming. She and I like to say to each other “Decline might take awhile!” I wish you could hear her cackle with glee every time!
Mollie Curry