Memoriam

"Social media executors" are a new trend.

???

I'm glad you asked! A "social media executor" is the person you designate to preside over/dispose of your social media accounts in the event of your untimely death. Here's a nice short video about it. Something to think about in the unlikely event that we die off in the 1st phase and our loved ones live on to the 2nd or 3rd. I say "unlikely" because, after all, we're the beastiest people we know, so...

This post...did not start out being what it is. The event that inspires it wasn't even something I'd planned to blog about, but being so far behind after having skipped a week, I thought the large sheets of foam core created an apocalyptic landscape in Krista's house. 

When Krista asked me if I wanted to be a model for a new style of photography that she is trying, I was excited for the opportunity because I have loved her photos since way back in 2007. It was a double opportunity: I got to sit for a portrait from a very talented photographer, and I also got to support the business of a close friend. Because she is (get ready for a shameless self-hyperlink) brilliant, Krista casually said, "How do you want to be remembered after the end?" And the "Memoriam" post was born. 

I am able to paste two of Krista's images of me below because SHE GAVE ME THE PHOTOS FOR CHRISTMAS. The photos can be a Christmas gift due to the following reasons: Krista owns a photography business by which she makes money taking people's photos. Krista is the person that Walgreens is trying to protect when Walgreens says, "Please verify that you took/own these photos and/or have permission to copy them."

A few people on facebook have said that these photos are beautiful, and I agree.

HOWEVER
There are only three aspects of them that portray me the way I would like to be remembered:
1) I have good taste in hair color.
2) I look fantastic in baby blue.
3) I have laugh lines. I love my laugh lines.

If you have ever met me IRL, you know that I have facial flaws like scars and moles and outsized hair follicles and...well, I'm sure I have other unsightly flaws as well.

You will notice that Krista has removed every one of them. She also put makeup on me and styled my hair. Then she painstakingly posed my reluctant limbs.

Is this how I want to be remembered?

Or would I rather be remembered sweaty and gasping at the top of Multnomah Falls, warts and all, with one eye squintier than the other?

Or?
...
(here's a thought)
...
both???

Krista knows all of this about me. As the photo session began coming to an end, she said, "You can at least ACT like you are having fun!" I said, "You know me well enough to know that I can in fact be having lots of fun with my natural scowl on my face!" She said, "And YOU know ME well enough that you know I pick on you." :)

If you are considering having a portrait done, so that those loved ones who mysteriously outlive your beastie self can have a more-perfect-than-you image to remember you by, I sincerely hope that you have a photographer like Krista: someone who knows you well enough to be able to painstakingly pose you.

The latter photo, the one of me having struggled up a one-mile stretch that is probably simple for many, is the one I want those family members who display photos of me to put up in their living rooms. The former photos, where I struggled to relax my fingers and to smile with my eyes, are the ones I want displayed on Krista's website.

They would be a nice memorial to me. But they are a far more appropriate memorial to Krista, along with the portraits of the other five women that she has transformed.

Here was an artist who took a rock and tumbled it to polished.

I think these last two posts of mine have been particularly good. The fact that I skipped a full week hasn't changed, but I consider myself all caught up now. I have an image to introduce you to for last Tuesday's post, but I'll do it next Tuesday and bring you back to your regularly-scheduled Apocalypse Blog. After that, look forward to some amazing information coming out of a little country called Bangladesh.

Until then, love and light, and may you always smile with your eyes.