Dear Family,
How beautiful to see Capucine again who I haven't seen since she came up to my knees, and then only rarely!
At Bonnie's odd request, I will expose a little info as to my upcoming hip replacements. On October 2, my left hip will hopefully be subject to a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing, a new procedure to this country that is only given to more active young people (belown 60?). Since I'm 55 and want very much to be able to sit in the "lotus" position for a good part of this visit to the realm of samsara, I am considered a candidate. However, Dr. Suresh Nayak can't guarantee the resurfacing until he gets into the nearly foot-long incision on my back side. With a Traditional Hip Replacement, I would not be able to sit and meditate, and I would have a 9 or 10 inch rod of metal to replace the sawed-off upper thigh bone. Either way, I'll still be setting off metal detectors, so I need to get to airports way ahead of time. I'll be recovering at home hopefully, and it's supposed to take 8 weeks to fully recover. About 3 months after the first one, I can get the right hip done. So I guess the next 10 months or so will be quite contemplative. Mom will be tending to me like I should be tending to her about this time in our lives. This is truly a dancer's ripening karma!
I'm confident that all will go well with this improvement of my life, but I am filling out a Living Will stating that I want a natural death (when and if it's time), without any artificial supports. I guess the most important message I would like to give to immediate family is that, if ever anything should happen to me, please be sure that I receive a Buddhist approach to death, to death itself, and a Buddhist funeral rite. I would like to be cremated. I'm sure this is nearly taboo to talk about and most of you will feel I'm being morbid, but we Americans unfortunately deny death to our great detriment.
The Buddhist treatment of the body before, during and after death is very different from what hospitals do, so please call my Teachers so they can perform the proper rites.
Ok. That's it . . . I expect to be bounding over barrels in a year! Much love to you all,
mickey
Mickey, thank you for this "odd" post that informs family of your health, state of mind and future expectations in such a reality-based manner!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't like to think of you in an urn, I do love the images of you sitting in a lotus position for meditation, setting off metal detectors at the airport and last but not least bounding over barrels! You will be in our thoughts during your big day.
Much love sister,
Bonnie