My Tribute To Me

I died at the age of 90. Praise God for a painless death and a tear filled funeral. Got buried in a peaceful cemetery in Scotland under an oak tree; my grave covered with white lilies.
(Hey, if I can fantasize about my wedding, why not about my funeral?)
Anyways, I’m at the pearly gates, much to the shock of all those who thought (or in my present life – think) that ill rush straight into the arms of the devil. And there stands God in his majestic white robe, welcoming me into eternal bliss. However he has some paper work to finish before getting me into heaven – what else can you expect when the governing board is full of Indians!!!

So, there is this last question he needs to ask me under the section ‘Re-birth/Re-incarnation’, which is – ‘Do you want to go back as yourself? Would you like to relive the life you just lived all over again? Or would you choose another life???’

Well, I could lie through my teeth about being ready to relive my own life all over again – it’s been such a great, content, awesome, rich life. But come on, this is heaven, you can’t lie here. Secondly, if I’m being offered any other life on a silver platter, man, let’s go for it.

Ok, let’s see what’s there to choose from. Oh, there’s that girl from college who became an air hostess and traveled the world – she fulfilled my life long dream in 1/3rd the time I took.

Or maybe that girl from school who always had the perfect figure, the perfect marriage, the perfect kid, the perfect house, the ultimate happiness – why not grab her shoes?

What about that colleague from work who quit her job and became a photographer with National Geographic – traveling and photography and money – it can’t get better than that.

Hey, why not just chuck the idea of being a girl again – why not go back as a guy? 75% of the heartaches get over there itself!!!

Well, after deliberating for quite a few heaven hours over the ‘Book of Life’, I finally made my decision and informed God about it.
He was pleasantly surprised. ‘So you finally chose to go back as yourself. What ever happened to those much ‘happier’ lives you wanted to grab?’
‘Well, I realized one thing’, was my reply, ‘You give people a lot of problems but you give them happier faces and bigger smiles. I never realized, that behind that happy façade, these same peoples’ lives were filled with problems worse than the ones I went through.’
‘So is that why you chose to go back as yourself? You think that your life had the least of them?’

‘No’, I replied. ‘That’s not the reason for my decision.

I chose my life because that’s what it is – my life. What I made of myself, what I moulded through my decisions.
The laughter I caused, the tears I brought on. And if I don’t believe that the life I made is worth reliving again, then why did I live 90 years of it? I should have just ceased to exist a long time back.
No, I made an awesome life of what you gave me and the best reward I can give myself now is by going back as me. That’s my tribute to me'

And today as I write this article, my only prayer is that when I actually reach those pearly gates, I have no doubts about re-living the life of me, all over again. What about you?