Today I am participating in an exercise where you write your own obituary. This is a topic provided by a group of really good friends and fellow blog writers where we all select a topic and write on that topic all on the same day. I didn’t really want to do it but thought it would be interesting to see what I came up with – no rewrites or edits allowed, 15 minute time limit. A traditional obituary has only 208 words so I am going to honor that standard. Ever wonder what your obituary would look like?
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Robert Benjamin Borson died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 92. Bob lived a full life and was surrounded by people who loved him, which was all he ever cared about. He is survived by his wife and true love of 65 years, Michelle, and his only child Kate – which Bob would tell you was the greatest project he ever worked on. Bob was a great storyteller, prone to hyperbole, and possessed an extreme lack of self awareness, often putting his foot in his mouth believing that he could always take it out later.
Bob spent the majority of his adult life as a practicing architect but starting in his early forties, he became a public speaker, renown for his ability to speak at exhaustive length without preparation. His reputation among other public speakers was mixed between admiration and disgust due to his cavalier attitude. Bob parlayed this ability into writing by starting ‘Life of an Architect’, something that he felt he was never any good at but forged on nevertheless with the same abandon that he tackled most things in life.
Throughout his life, Bob’s forthright personality, often mistaken as abrasive, was softened by his profound desire to help others. He would thank you all for coming today … and then tell a poopie joke.
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Okay, that was not as easy as I was hoping but did I learn anything? I learned that I love my family more than my job and that I can’t write anything very well in 208 words. Since it is my obituary, it’s supposed to be about me – but the urge to make this an open letter from me to the people who remain after I’m gone was overwhelming. I think a far better exercise is to write a letter to the people you want to say goodbye to now and then let someone else write your obituary.
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