The Florida Woman Who Raised Her Own Monument
The prospect of anticipating death is something that is easier said than done. It normally takes one to be literally aged with wisdom to completely come into terms with preparing one’s own cremation services or other funeral arrangements. Among the many individuals who were able to embrace death fairly as a fact of life is a Florida woman named Emily Debrayda Phillips.
She was diagnosed with a malignant pancreatic cancer at age 69. Knowing that her chances of surviving that battle entails a struggle of mythical proportions, she did a uniquely unexpected way of squaring with it – she wrote her own unique obituary.
The content of her conclusive personal biopic highlights the most positive aspects she can remember in her entire lifetime. Emily particularly spoke more about her experiences and less about her achievements. Her content emphasized a life of happiness dating back from childhood. Emily wrote about the period where she became head majorette during her pubescent years. Her personal obituary also included her joyful key event of marrying the husband of her dreams. Although she spoke about her career, her theme focused more on her humble beginnings as a teacher than the accolades she reaped in her entire professional life writing for the Florida Times Union. Emily also wrote about her son and daughter and the silly little things of parenthood, such as the outlandish fashion she made her kids wear. Lastly, she wrote lovingly about her five grand children. She even went farther by publicizing every grandparent’s natural weakness of spoiling their grand kids with the finest things they can give.
In the bigger perspective, Emily Debrayda Phillips serves as a fine example of an individual who was blessed with everything – a subject of great admiration and bitter envy. Her interesting life sang more beautifully than most solemn lyrics of funeral songs. But what made her obituary so special is the fact that she justifies her life story as something every person can achieve. What captured the attention of the audience was that she believes her wonderful life is made possible by even the simplest but most powerful of gestures – smiling.
The conclusion of her entry wrote: So… I was born, I blinked, and it was over. No buildings named after me, no monuments named after my honor. But we all know she did far more than that.
