I’ve Decided Where I Want To Die

I’d like to try skydiving before I die.

Just not right before I die.
-comedian Josh Gret

I’m not thinking of dying any time soon. As Mark Twain said,

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
-Mark Twain

Not that anyone has reported my demise. Poor Mr Clemons obituary was printed in a paper.

But, I’ve given thought to where I want my final resting place to be. History is important to my family. I’ve always considered that I’m from Washington. I was born there. My mother and her ancestors were born there. My father and grandfather are buried there.

And yet, my father and grandfather were born in Great Falls, Montana. A distant grandfather was part of the Mormon migration. He was with Brigham Young on July 24, 1847 when the first group of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley.

Tracing further back, my people are from Laurel County, Kentucky. Going back even further my ancestors fought at the battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill in the colony of Massachusetts.

Some ancestors were here as early as the mid-1600’s.

I recently did a DNA test. My ancestory is British Isles, Scotland, Ireland and England. With a little bit of German thrown in. So, even though my family has been in America since before it was the United States of America, I’m a descent of immigrants.

I realized that actually, “my people” are from no specific place. Like vagabonds through time and space. My connection to any location is what I choose to make of it.

I decided to be buried in here in Utah. I plan to live to be 113, so I figure I’m less than half way there.

I’ve lived in Utah for more than half of my adult life. I don’t actually know how long. My children have been born here. . .many of them at least. All my children live within driving distance. My grandchildren, five living and one deceased, are here in Utah.

I’m not sure at what point I became “from” Utah. Perhaps when my mother left Washington to retire to Arizona. Perhaps when my oldest grandson was buried in Santaquin, Utah. Perhaps it was none of these. Perhaps it was none of these, or all of these.

Even though, I won’t really care where I’m buried. You know, because I’ll be dead. Still, it’s comforting to know that on Memorial Day when my descendants gather to remember their ancestors, it will be in a place I’m from.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

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