For many, 2020 will go down as the year of revelation. It’s been very eye-opening for me, especially these last few days. Life isn’t promised.
Jessica Desrosins, your passing has opened my eyes to so much and has hit me harder than I would’ve ever been able to imagine. The good truly do die young.
@itsatravelod got me thinking that when people pass we really don’t even know their wishes, so I want to make mine clear:
❤️ Cry because that part is a part of the healing, but laugh and go through the amazing memories we shared. I would want you to laugh.
❤️ At my funeral, it shouldn’t be 100% sad. I want my passing ceremony to be a celebration of all the contributions I’ve made. Have a party after it and celebrate my life. Dance, have my blog posts and writing on display, the books I will write, my travel pictures, play my travel vlogs, etc.
❤️ I want scholarships to be created with any extra donated money left over from my service/my estate. Scholarships for studying abroad, traveling, and Black first-generation college students (undergrad and grad).
❤️ Try not to comment R.I.P under any of the pictures I’ve ever posted on social media. I’ve never liked that. Allow my pages to serve as an inspiration and a piece of me you can always go back to.
❤️ Keep my blog alive. I usually pay for it monthly via DreamHost so make sure it’s paid for and that “Being Christina Jane“ is always live.
❤️My best friend has my journals and you can ask her for any parts about you. I write about everything. Good & bad, so when you come across a “not so good” part about you don’t take it personally. It’s how I felt at the moment. Focus more on the good. It’s meant to give insight not to harm.
❤️ I don’t need an extravagant funeral. Keep it simple, but the service needs to be beautiful with singing (I love gospel music), dancing, & reading of my works, remember it’s a celebration. I have always been a baddie on a budget, so do not correlate beautiful with expensive. The person who knows me the best: MY BESTFRIEND, Jenny Fleuristal, should make a majority of the decorative decisions if not all. My family (immediate and extended) barely know me besides my little sister. That’s the truth. So my best friend and little sister can make choices, they know me better than anyone else. My mother can also make decisions, but don’t allow her to overpower decisions just because she is my mother. It should be a collaboration, including the people I love the most working together to create a beautiful celebration ceremony. That’s what I would want.
Be firm on these requests as I expect pushback lol after all we are Haitian, but Jasmine and Jenny I won’t be upset if things do not go as planned. Do your best, that’s all I ask.
❤️ Jenny let my parents read everything about them I wrote in my journals. If anyone requests it, they can have only the parts written about them specifically not the entire thing. Copies only, you need to always keep the originals until you can’t anymore then give them to Jasmine, and when she can no longer keep them (because of mental, emotional, or physical strain) bury them/burn them.
❤️If we aren’t talking now or aren’t friends anymore, but at some point we did and we were close please come to my funeral and don’t feel like you’re being “fake” by sharing the memories we shared. At one point you were a part of my daily life, we just fell out it happens. No hard feelings.
❤️ I have a ” Five Wishes Advance Directive” packet that is filled out and signed. I keep it in my car. It’s usually in the back pocket of one of my car seats. My brother uses my car now so I’m not sure if he has kept it in there, but it should still be.
❤️ If I were to pass tomorrow do not take what I am saying in this post lightly. I will update it regularly as changes in my life are made and relationships form and perish. These are my wishes.
Last updated: January 2023
Reminder: This isn’t meant to be a sad post, so don’t think of it as one. I would rather write out my expectations for my afterlife ceremony than to have you wondering.
With the utmost love,
Christina Jane
