Friday, September 12, 2008

The One Person You Meet in Heaven

More than a year ago, I started posting and answering questions from a little book called If... that I've had for a long time. I used to use these hypothetical questions with my students to get to know them better, and more recently I use them as icebreakers for our small groups at church. Anyway, back when I posted them before I never got many answers (and I still might not--ha!) and I quit doing it, but I want to go back to using them as writing prompts. You can answer in the comments or if you want to write a post if they make you think of something longer, let me know and I'll link to your post!

The earlier ones I've done are here, here, here, and here. I'm going to go straight through the book rather than picking questions I'd rather answer. There are some I'll just skip, since they just flat go against my morals like "If you had to sleep with someone other than your spouse..." Um, no. Since that's never going to happen, and I don't even want to go there in my thoughts, I'll skip those. Sometimes two closely related questions follow each other, so I'll do them both.

Here's the next unanswered question.

If you could dine alone with anyone from any period in history, which person would it be?

This is a toughie for me. (I don't know why we'd have to dine alone, either. Aren't spouses invited?) All of a sudden the only people I can think of are recluses like Emily Dickinson or great people who had huge problems to think about like Abraham Lincoln or Dr. Martin Luther King. "I'll tell you about a dream, Dr. King--the dream to take a shower by myself without a child!" Not exactly on the same level, is it?)

Oh, I know! C.S. Lewis! I'm rereading some of his books now and he is as amazing to me now as he was when I was sixteen--or younger, when I loved Narnia with all my heart. Anyone who can write scholarly books on poetry, apologetics of the Christian faith, science fiction, and children's fantasy--and all of it so well--must have been a fascinating man. I would love to just ask him some questions and listen to his answers. Since he was a long-term bachelor who preferred the company of men, I hope he wouldn't mind spending some time enlightening me about the faith we share. Good thing I believe I'll see him in Heaven, right?

Who would you like to meet?
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5 comments:

  1. Hmmm.. that is a toughie...

    I think I'd go with my bajillion great-grandmother - Elizabeth Tilly-Howland, who came over on the Mayflower.

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  2. Hmmm, this is a tough question. I think my answer would be my biological father whom I have no memory of.

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  3. My maternal grandmother who never got to meet my children. I left having babies until I was in my mid 30s and she died a couple of years before them and it has been my one great regret in life that she never got to meet my two children. She would have adored them and I would like to sit her down and tell her that they are great kids and she would be so very proud of them.

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  4. You know, I'm thinking my dad's dad. Never met him. Even just to seem him walk the long path to the barn. That would be good.

    And as to the whole sleeping with someone else, ugh, too much...work? discomfort? and all that, but boy, to look into another man's eyes. I was struck yesterday by just how beautiful Ed Robertson is from the Bare Naked Ladies. OOOOhhhh. Those eyes. (I know, you didn't ask that one.)

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  5. I'd like to meet Mother Theresa. Specifically, I'd like to ask her how she helped all those people and did it with such grace and humility. BTW, I'm hosting a Recipe Week on my blog, starting tomorrow. Please stop by and see what's cookin'!

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