Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover (Or its title!)

Recently I received an email from a friend welcoming me to look at his holiday photographs. Since I was eager to see his growing family, I opened up the file and discovered to my horror his snapshots of a hunting trip!  As I am not a hunter, these pictures disturbed me.

I bring this to your attention because I know that there are people out there who stay away from my blog because the title has frightened them away. My friend's title drew me in and made me curious, as it asked me to see his holiday pictures. On the other hand, my ramblings have not been read by people who fear that my title has some macabre connotation. Although it hasn't been said in exactly these words I think they feel that Make Dying Fun is a disrespectful and flippant title.

Many folks have offered alternate titles for my book and blog which bear the same title. "Why not call it something like Dying With Dignity?" they plead.  "Tips for Seniors with Dementia" as an alternate add-on.
People have asked me to remove them from my mailing list because they don't have time to read it or because they are not "bloggers".  Fair enough.

There have been many positives about my title. Some have written me their praises for taking the rigidity out of dying. Accolades abound of those who think that I have taken a stuffy subject and had some fun with it. and say"Never change your title!"

Believe me, I have bandied about the idea of changing the title but I always come back with the same notion that it wasn't "MY" title to begin with.  It was sent to me in the form of a lightning bolt (figuratively not literally!) as I was driving along one day, minding my own business.  From out of nowhere a voice said loudly "You have to write a book and it has to be called Making Dying Fun."  As you can well imagine, I was a bit startled and before I had time to pull over and check whether I perhaps had a fever, the voice said again, more insistently a second time,  "You have to write a book and it has to be called Making Dying Fun!"

I chose not to ignore the voice and this is the result,  lively and upbeat stories of those in their Golden Years heading towards the Great Beyond.  If you check my under-construction website it advises searchers that if they have come to this place looking to learn how to tie-dye, they have come to the wrong place!

I don't know whose voice I heard that day while driving but I do know that it was very adamant. I have been thinking back to why that voice said it had to be Fun, and why hadn't  the word "Delightful" or "De-Lightful" or "Enlightening"  been used, rather than "FUN"?   Lately, I have had thoughts about my Grandmother and how she would take me on wonderful trips which included outings to museums, theatres, art galleries, deserts, parks,etc. and after one such adventure I thanked her and said how much fun it had been, to which she responded, "Honey Child, I hope you didn't just think it was fun, I hope you learned something."  She then added "These things I do with you are meant to be enjoyable but there's also an element of learning.  I hope it was fun but I also hope it was educational and that you learned something".

So, dear reader, share this blog with your friends and co-workers if you think they can benefit from it and feel free to make comments leaving your name or by choosing to remaining anonymous on my comments area.  I hope you have fun here but it'd be nice if you learned something as well!

BTW, if you are at a loss as to what to buy a special senior this holiday season, my next installment will feature a list of gift ideas for those who seem to have everything or need very little in their last years on this earth.  As one dear lady said to me "With all my aches and pains, getting old is no fun at all, but having you as a friend, certainly makes it better."