Life Certificate

Barbara Gott

Kate Kolb

One of the things that comes with dealing with a loved one’s death is getting a death certificate. It is a very tangible finality. Looking at my mom’s paperwork, it hit me that life is sandwiched between two sheets of paper, a birth certificate and a death certificate. Kind of like the first and last pages of a book. The in-between pages could be thought of as our life certificate (LC). Everything that happens over our lifetime makes up our LC. Early on, we may not have much choice on what is added to the LC. However, at some point, we do get some control on the content. While we may not be able to dictate some things in our lives, we do get to influence most of it. Every day is a new opportunity to add something worthwhile to our LC.

In the past month, along with the loss of my mom, we had to say goodbye to our amazing niece, Kate. Both of these women left behind a legacy of love and commitment. My mom had a full life by most people’s standards; Kate’s feels drastically cut short. However, in both cases, each did so much with the days they had. Everyone who knew them has been deeply impacted by their lives. If we could read the life certificates for both Barbara Arbutus Gott and Kathryn Marie Kolb, we all would find them to be truly inspirational in their own unique ways. We can certainly learn enormous lessons from their lives and integrate their spirit and dedication into our own.

We all know the day of our births. The date on the death certificate is unknown at the moment. Let’s take up the challenge of putting meaningful and beneficial paragraphs on our life certificates while we can. Living a life of love, kindness, and purpose is one powerful way to do so.