Foxy Writer Chick

One of the most charming and humorous parts of Disney’s Haunted Mansion isn’t even in the mansion. It’s in the cue outside. A series of tombstones arranged as if in a family burial plot proclaim pithy witticisms about each for whom the bell tolled.

This faux tombstone memorializes one of the original Disney Imagineers who worked on the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. This is located at the one in the queue line for Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in the Liberty Square area. Francis Xavier is an homage to X Atencio, a Disney legend, who wrote the lyrics to the Haunted Mansion song. (Photo by Mark Eades, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Goodness sake, Jack Sparrow, it seems dead men really do tell tales.

But why let Disney have all the fun?

When my sister and I buried our father, we decided to put the phrase that he had on his Miata convertible’s license plate–one that truly captured the man’s love of adventure:

So whether art imitates life or life imitates art, this begs the question: What Would Your Epitaph Say? Especially if it were truthful…

Here’s some to ponder:

Loved her job. It gave her something to complain about.

Presently talking Alexander Graham Bell’s ear off about her favorite invention.

All work and no play made Marvin divorced.

Beneath the gruff exterior beat the heart of a softy.

He came. He drank. He got loud. He passed out. He repeated.

He paid through the nose.

And then there’s this one…

Poor Mr. Harband. And others like him who, rather than being assertive, allow the boulder to escape the chute and hurtle downhill unchecked (ahem…most of us.)

If only we had seen it coming…

NEWS ALERT: IT IS COMING. Because no one here gets out alive.

The good news?

As we are blessed to venture into the early months of the new year, it’s not to late for a resolution to live a calmer, more deliberate life. A resolution that could be neatly expressed on a grave marker, or, more importantly, in the granite of the lives you touch.

Because what we say and do matters more than any of us really know.

Be well. God bless!

xoxo,

Susan J. Anderson

Foxy Writer Chick