Things Not To Do Before Dying.

1. Hide behind your computer keyboard.
2. Keep your skeletons in your closet. Be ashamed of them. All of them.
3. Make your friends responsible for keeping your secrets, even after your death.
4. Don’t say anything when you witness injustice. Be a bystander.
5. Don’t finish your book.
6. Don’t tell your spouse the truth about anything.
7. Model living untruthfully for your children. Show them what a marriage without love or respect looks like.
8. Don’t allow yourself any freedom. Don’t make any plans.
9. When you find the great love of your life, do nothing.

 10. Whatever you do, don’t love yourself.

photo copyright Isadora Gruye Photography

Izy Gruye and I have been working together to write a collaborative poem that will be posted at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads on Tuesday as part of the In Tandem series. We came up with more material than we expected--because we're fantastic that way--including two top-ten lists. Or lists of ten, anyway. Mine is a response to Izy's, and hers is a response to mine. That great photo is by Izy, too. Please visit Izy at the Real Cage Blog to read her companion list, here:

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