I follow a remarkable account on TikTok. It’s called Tips From Dead People and that is exactly what it is. The creator is a woman from Minnesota who has always had a fascination with obituaries. I love her philosophy about a good obit:
“They really focus on the little things in life and not the big things. By big things, I mean jobs, material possessions, the traditional milestones. The obituaries that we love to read go deep into the tiny things, catchphrases, jokes, nicknames, foibles, disasters, personal weaknesses, unexpected joys. That's really the good stuff of life, the things that we can all empathize with.”
Ms McGreevy posts two or three obits a week, reading captivating accounts of everyday people’s lives. Often the obits have levity and they always contain wisdom. I open TikTok sometimes just to see if she has posted something new since the last time I was there.
This morning’s obit was of a 90 year old Chicago woman whose life wasn’t extraordinary BUT whose story was inspiring and impressive in the ways of ordinary people. One of the take aways, which actually comes up fairly often in the obituaries that are featured, is that there is always a next chapter. Just because a person retires or loses their spouse or has their house burn down does not mean their life is over. Our whole lives are full of “next chapters” until the final “The End” is written.
I need this piece of wisdom. I have lived a rich and full life, and an ordinary life. I am still so very curious about so many things and one of them is, “What is my next chapter?” I left my profession a while back and currently see my calling as providing child care for the two best preschoolers the world. But, they will go to school one of these years and then what? What will be my next chapter? I’ll see what the universe has in mind for me when the time comes.
🤣😍😎
I didn’t link to the TikTok account because I know that if you don’t have the app, you can’t open it. The link below is to an article in the Minnesota Now publication featuring an interview with the TikToc creator Mary McGreevy.
https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2023/03/29/minnesota-woman-shares-tips-from-dead-people-on-tiktok
Next chapters, yes. I'm of the age where there's possibly not time for many, if any, next chapters in the here and now. But I'm also of the age where I can look back and see so many different chapters my life has taken, from sailing around the world, to managing a restaurant, to getting my MA, to teaching college courses in composition and literature, to running a nonprofit advocating on social justice and environmental issues, to desperately trying to save my addicted son from himself, to raising his daughter, to finally retiring and writing full-time, and now working to publish what I've written. So many twists and turns I never would have imaged as a young woman. And yet still looking forward to what comes next if I have another ten or twenty years. And yes, extremely curious about what will come then, when I step at last beyond the veil that separates me from all I've ever know. Somehow I anticipate a new adventure, a new exciting chapter awaits me even then. If past is prologue, our lives may be a never-ending book of ever evolving chapters.
Mine would say "His life was a vacation from sobriety yet he didn't drink a thing".