What song do you want played at your funeral?

Well, I don’t want a funeral. I’d like a nice quiet cremation with no sendoff. But, if I have to have a funeral....gee, this is hard.

I’m picking two.

The Cowboy Rides Away by George Strait followed quickly with The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens. Both are my favorite songs and I think The Lion Sleeps Tonight would help dry the torrent of tears that the first song would bring. Yes, I know The Cowboy Rides Away is about love being finished but I’ve found it a nice anthem during trying times.

I'm giving you a credit card with no limit. You can purchase anything you want, no matter what the cost. What do you buy?

I’d pay off our house and set my Mom and Sister up. I’d find some health insurance to bill to it and quit my job.

And a Dodge Challenger. Black on black. I need one.

If you could record a conversation any person, living or dead, who would it be? Why?

My Grandpa. He wasn’t much of a talker and I remember a conversation we had about when he was in WWII and some other things. I wish I could sit down with him and ask him more.

Show me your favorite piece of artwork. Who is it by? Why do you like it?

Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. I’ve always loved the abstractness of it and when I found out that it was painted from the memory of the view out of the window when he was in a mental institution - well, that made it even more interesting.

Generally, I don’t like buying reproductions of things but since I can’t own the original, we have a pretty big reproduction in our living room. When my niece was in the second grade she recreated it in her art class. That pleased me.

Hey! I’d like to buy the original with the credit card from question two!

What makes you cry?

Sad songs. Touching movies. Anything referencing missing someone. Lonely sounding elevator music can set me off. I listen to StoryCorps and I had to quit listening on my way to work because the stories generally make me cry. I can listen to someone’s 4 minute story and be a bawling mess 2 minutes in.

Do you like to shop?

Yes! But not for clothes. I’d rather pull a toenail out than do that. Books? Homemade soaps and bath stuff? Odd little things that strike my fancy? Yes, yes, yes. I like to do my shopping online.

Do you believe in an afterlife?

I don’t believe in the conventional Heaven and Hell. I think sometimes when we die, we feel like there’s unfinished business so our energy lingers around. Sometimes we just go out like a candle though.

Tell me about a time in your life when you were happy.

The first thing that comes to mind is a trip Husband and I took in the fall to visit my Mom. We surprised her and my sister’s family also came to Mom’s house. We sat up late drinking and being goofy. The next day my sister and I napped with her cat and my niece. It was nice and relaxed and it was just great to be with everyone.

My sister and I spent around the first 24 years of her life not getting along. We're good friends now and it's nice to hang out as equals instead of me wanting to smack her upside the head over doing (what I find to be) stupid shit.