Toastmasters International is like Boy Scouts of America, but for adults, way cooler, and only about public speaking and leadership. No campfires or s'mores.
One of the regular meeting activities is Table Topics. The Table Topic Master (I love the titles in this club!) asks a question to the room at large, and then selects an audience member to come up and answer the question, speaking one to two minutes. Surprise! Totally impromptu speaking opportunity. Great fun.
One of the recent questions was "If you could plan the day you die, what would you do?" This really caught my imagination. Since I wasn't called on, I'll share my thoughts here.
If I could plan the day I die, the first thing I would do is schedule it for a day eighty years from now. Which would make me 99 the day I die. Sounds good.
I'd get up early and watch the sunrise. I'd call my grandkids. I'd have pancakes for breakfast, and I wouldn't stint on the butter and syrup. I'd finish reading any book I was in the middle of reading. I'd pick out what clothes I want to be buried in. I'd call my executor and let him know where the will is and who I do not want to speak at my funeral. If I had any unfinished writing business - incomplete but almost finished novels - I'd decide whether to finish it for publication or not. Probably not, but presumably by the time I'm 99 I'll have super l33t ninja writer skills, and finishing and publishing a novel in an afternoon will be no sweat.
Then I'd pack a picnic lunch and go out with my husband in a canoe. We'd row out into the middle of the lake and eat our sandwiches (thick ham and sharp cheddar) and watch the birds and the reflections on the lake (maybe my husband will want to do some fishing - who knows). We'd talk about all our adventures, what-happened-when and do-you-remember. We'd watch the sunset change the sky, and because the lake will be so calm, it'll be like our canoe is floating in the sky.
When the sun sets and takes the color with it, I'd kiss my husband, and then I'd die.
It's going to be interesting to see how different my life turns out from what I plan.
2 comments:
I love it - but I have to admit I kept thinking "Who can row a canoe at 99 years old?" and "Eat ham with what teeth?" - but don't mind me. (: It sounds lovely, at any rate.
BUT BUT BUT I don't think you are in a position to rate Toastmasters as being more fun than Boy Scouts, seeing as how you've never been one! :P
I plan to be one of those elderly people who get tough with old age instead of brittle - leather, not china. If that doesn't work out, we can always get a boat with an outboard motor.
If I have to, I'll substitute peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Post a Comment