Today I learned a few things about my maternal grandfather. It turns out that when he was alive, he used to design wooden furniture and he was also familiar with carpentry. I wonder if he was self taught but I guess I must’ve inherited the artistic skills from him then.

I also spent some time reminiscing. I remember how my father started relocating the light fixtures in the house when he was still strong and able to climb ladders. He was already planning ahead for us, to prepare for the period when he could no longer help with the electrical works at home. He didn’t want us to go through a hard time and got things in order before things made a turn for the worse.

Somehow when someone in the family dies, we reflect on our own mortality and we focus more on the important things like relationships, time with family members and friends etc. My father has inspired me to also plan ahead and get things in order. Since I’m the youngest member in the family, based on age, I am expected to outlast the others but,… you never know. And we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about death and plan for it so that those who we leave behind will not have a hard time.

As for me, I aim to live everyday as if its my last day. One day it will be.

 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”

2 Kings 20:1 (NLT)