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Blog: Surfing the Paper Wave
 When Documenting is the Wrong Choice
My mother-in-law passed away on Saturday, March 29, somewhere between 5:30 and 8:00 AM. She experienced excruciating pain in her back. She struggled with nausea that wouldn't resolve. She tried to manage the pain with a couple of stiff drinks. She made peace with her Maker.
How do I know these things about my mother-in-law's final hours? Not because I was there. Not because she told me. Not because someone else recounted what they had seen or heard of Mom's final moments. Because, as an aortal aneurysm slowly ruptured and took her life with it, my mother-in-law sat in her chair and took notes in neat, careful printing about what she was experiencing. The police found the notes on a nearby table when her body was discovered at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon.
Mom didn't call her son and his wife who live across the street. She didn't call my husband and me, who live a mile away. She didn't dial 911. All of us who loved her are haunted by the image of her sitting alone and in pain, meticulously documenting her symptoms as her life ebbed away and willing helpers slept.
I'm an organizer, and I make my living in part telling people what to document and how to keep those documents in order. But sometimes documenting isn't the right thing to do. Sometimes, talking, interacting, reaching out are the right things to do.
And so I invite you to engage in some reflection, as I have been doing for the past two weeks. Are there areas in your life where you are documenting when you need to be relating? Do you communicate with your spouse and children via notes on the refrigerator door? With friends via emails and IMs and text messages? With family members via Christmas and birthday cards? In short, are there people in your life who need some "face time" with you now?
This sudden, preventable death has me reflecting on the brevity and the fragility of life. I am resolved not to put off, or reduce to writing, words – especially words of love -- that should be said face to face sooner rather than later. I hope I have transmitted some of my resolve to you. Let me know, ok?
posted on: 4/13/2008 10:30:00 AM by Suzanne Kuhn
category: Paper
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Surfing the Paper Wave
by Suzanne Kuhn
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About Suzanne:
Suzanne Kuhn is the owner of ACE ORGANIZING, offering affordable, customized, energizing organizing solutions to homes, schools and small businesses in the five-county Philadelphia area and central New Jersey. Although an organizing generalist, (she'll organize anything!) Suzanne has a growing specialty in paper and electronic filing systems and financial organizing. To receive her FREE booklet, 50 TOP TIME MANAGAGEMENT TIPS, email her at [email protected]
Suzanne's Website:
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/BlogList.asp?sort=organizer&schedule=41&name=Suzanne_Kuhn
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