Remembering Marlee

All this hype about the world ending today brought back a memory of a lady who came into my life a few years ago. She wasn't really a friend, but had worked with my daughter at a prison in Grants, NM. She was a very interesting woman.

Marlee was diagnosed with lung cancer and eventually had to quit her job because she became too weak to work. She loved her home on Mt. Taylor and lived there for as long as she could manage with the help of friends. She began going through her extensive art collection and possessions she had collected on her travels. One by one she gave them to her special friends.

One day she announced to all that knew her that she had selected the exact day she was going to die. Marlee had dabbled in several religions and finally settled on Buddhism. She claimed that Buddhists had been given the ability to decide when they would die. She planned a party for the night before her chosen death date and invited her closest friends to attend. I am not sure if anyone actually believed her or if they were just humoring her because she was ill.

Of course, the next day she was still alive. It was a little embarrassing, but nothing stopped Marlee for very long. She lived for at least two more years and continued to grow physically weaker. She eventually had to move to a nursing home, where she made the best of still being alive.

She made sure that the nurses and staff knew that she wanted to die. It was not a morbid wish, she was just done with what she came here to do and I think annoyed that God was not listening to her. She had already made a decision that she wanted to return in her next life as a healer.

Marlee was a very spiritual soul, in her own way. A few weeks before she died I had a strong feeling that I was supposed to visit her. I had at one time shared some of my photos that contain spirit images and on my visit brought her prints of the ones I knew she especially liked. She was grateful and said, "There is no one here to talk to about spiritual things."

Above all Marlee had a great sense of humor. Before I left I remarked, "You know that you can't tell God when you are going to die, right?" With a smile she said, "Yes, I know."

Marlee finally got her wish and like her life her funeral was one of a kind. Her ashes were scattered by family and friends on the grounds of the sandstone bluffs in Cibola County. One of her sons summed her up by saying, "My mother was an odd bird."

On this day, with part of the world at least, thinking they can tell God what to do, I remember Marlee and I am grateful to have known her. Maybe she is a reminder to me that even though I know certain things are going to happen, the when is not entirely up to me.