I received the following email from a friend this week. It really made me think about my life…
“A good friend of mine went home early from work last Tuesday and held his wife for the last time as she died of cancer. On Friday of last week, he watched his son get married. Today, Monday, he buries his wife. It's odd to hug a friend at a wedding reception for his child and a funeral viewing for his wife within a 24 hour period. But through it all, I have yet, in my life, to see such grace and dignity shown by a man. Cliché expressions, but the most appropriate words I can find to describe his conduct last week and over the last 4 years. He said to me yesterday, about he and his wife, "We did lots of things together. We didn't wait until retirement." It was true. He and his wife were always doing things. Hiking, repelling, cycling, camping, traveling. However, over the last 4 years, they were more and more limited in what they could do because of her weakness.....but they "didn't wait for retirement".
Money is great, but don't wait until retirement. Do it today. Whatever it is, do it today. Say it, fix it, change it......whatever it is. What dying man wishes he had spent more time at the office?”
I also read these words from a poem by Mary Oliver (The Summer Days)…
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
There is a touching film I once saw, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill cancer patients who embark on a road trip together to accomplish a wish list of things they want to do before they “kick the bucket”. Their bucket list included a long list of wishes, including:
Witness something truly majestic
Help a complete stranger for the good
Laugh till I cry
Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world
Skydiving
Drive a motorcycle on the Great Wall of China
Sit on the Great Egyptian Pyramids
Find the Joy in your life
Writing assignment:
1. Think about your own bucket list – all the things you would like to do for the remainder of your “wild and precious” life. Write down everything!
2. Then write a short paragraph about the gift you’ve been given – your life, however long it may be.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” - Joe Lewis
“It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts.” - Adlai Stevenson
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