Thursday, March 19, 2009

Five Things You'll Have in Heaven

Everyone remembers Mitch Albom's first novel The Five People You Meet In Heaven if for no other reason than it spent something like 95 weeks on the bestseller lists and was the #1 bestselling hardcover debut novel ever (his web site is pretty cool, too.)

I already know the five people I'm going to meet in Heaven (right before I get kicked out, anyway) but I was thinking about what else might be waiting in the hereafter for me. If I had to pick the five things that imparted great wisdom and/or in some way affected or changed my life, they'd be:

#5 -- Art: One of the two things human beings create (other than writing) that make me think we're worth saving.

#4 -- Music: The other thing.

#3 -- Quilts: If Mom only knew what she would start the day she threw out my grandmother's wedding ring quilt, the talisman of my childhood, my shield against the monsters and the vampires and all things that go bump in the night.

#2 -- Poetry: I can't explained this one without sobbing all over you, but it saved me too many times to count.

#1 -- Books: Treasure chests anyone can find and open and sift through in wonder, no matter who they are, where they live, what they do, etc. The privilege of making them and filling them and putting them out there for others to find, well, there is nothing finer than that except reading them.

What five things do you think are waiting for you in heaven?

20 comments:

  1. Switch out "quilts" for "chocolate" and my list is the same.

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  2. ditto on the books, the art, the music...all the people i ever loved and do love, of course...

    and then, if there's a god at all...every single hero i ever created! ;)

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  3. My list is pretty similar, but I need to take out "quilts" and add my childhood dog to the top of the list. Or does she count as a people? At any rate, she's the first stop as soon as I hit heaven. And instead of poetry I think I'd have to go with natural beauty. Living near a large naturally occurring thing of beauty, like say, the Rocky Mountains or Lake Michigan, has kept me sane and connected to that part of me that still claims to be spiritual if not religious on days when nothing else could. So hopefully they have a little internet enabled cottage on the beach or in the mountains (or how about both?) ready for me up in heaven. That is assuming they let me stay. . .

    DiDi

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  4. Our lists are the same. The only other thing I'll be looking for is my wonderful friend Fran, to share it all with.

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  5. I pretty much just need coffee.

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  6. All forms of art, great food, lots of time to eat and talk, all manner of natural beauty, and clean air.

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  7. 1.Books- Cause what fun is heaven with not books
    2. Food-All the great things I love
    3 My mom
    4. A tote Bag- I am in love with tote bag
    5. Flip Flops in every color imaginable

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  8. 1. my Siamese kitty named Gypsy and my other Siamese named Duchess
    2. music
    3. books
    4. an oscar, for my amazing performance down on Earth
    5. movies, lots of movies

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  9. Anonymous1:37 PM

    An explanation is all I need.

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  10. 1. Music
    2. Soft, fuzzy blankets
    3. Books
    4. The smell of fresh cut grass
    5. Cupcakes

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  11. Well, as long as people/animals you love are a given:

    1) Limitless paper.
    2) Best fountain pen in existance.
    3) Big green spaces with rivers and plants and birdies to photograph.
    4) Books.
    5) ... Neil Gaiman.

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  12. You have a really good list. Mine doesn't differ too much:

    1. Books
    2. Poetry
    3. Music
    4. A piano
    5. A telescope

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  13. Anonymous4:54 PM

    1. I would like an ever-full library of books, constantly updated.

    2. Many mysterious bags to explore, with fabric, needles, threads, beads, etc. to make more.

    3. An at least weekly game night so I continue to quest with people I love that have gone on ahead.

    4. An annual reunion of family so I can spend time with people I missed in this life.

    5. Magic.

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  14. 1) Cats
    2) Books
    3) Chocolate
    4) A comfy reading room
    5) Music

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  15. A library full of my favorite books is definitely #1.

    2 would be a video library of every historical event as it took place to see if it really went down the way they say it did.

    3. Chocolate. No reason to explain.

    4. Art and music will have to go together to save room for...

    5. Endless hugs from my mom, I miss that so much.

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  16. Anonymous11:01 PM

    zomg my version of heaven would have Byron reading his poetry TO ME! that would be a fabulous heaven.

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  17. Anonymous11:14 PM

    books. music. cameras. chocolate that doesn't go to my hips.

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  18. Anonymous8:58 PM

    All the dogs and cats I've ever had. Chocolate. Coffee. Music and Art. Drawing paper and one billion different types of crayons. A fat pillow nobody has drooled on. My own mug with "Grind your ax elsewhere" on it. Oh, and a library with shelves that never empty of books free of food stains, dog-eared pages, and penciled in spoilers.

    Raven

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  19. This is a great list. I got all sappy reading it :D

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