Yesterday a wedding. So of course today would bring a funeral. It so happened that one of my dear friends lost her father last week and the funeral was today. It was a very sweet, touching service. Her father had lived a very honorable, good life and had made a solid contribution to the world. My friend gave a Life Sketch (Eulogy) and her brother spoke as well. Their father lived 85 years on this earth before he heard a doctor tell him he was going to die. He got the news less than 3 weeks ago and his response was simple. He said; "Well, I knew I would have to leave here someday. I guess I know now, when and how." He'd been given a diagnosis of advanced Pancreatic Cancer and it moved extremely rapidly. He was blessed not to suffer much pain with it before he died.
One of the stories his son told was how he'd been working on his life history and when he got the diagnosis and learned how little time he had left he was worried he might not be able to finish it. He asked his son to get him a mini-tape recorder so he could tape record the rest of it instead of write it out. His son did so but the disease moved so quickly his Dad was unable to even speak for most of the two and a half weeks before he died. This man had lived such a good life and worked so and do for his family and serve others and write his history that I'm certain one of his children will finish it for him. I write that part of the story only because it made me think once more not to put off the things that are important until tomorrow.
I have another friend whose sister is dying. She probably has only a week or two left at most. She has raised her kids--well, her youngest is 19--so almost raised them. I get updates from her almost daily. They are not just about what her sister can't do anymore but about the blessings her sister finds in the smallest things. They are about what her sister values most. They are about the people she loves, the relationships she nurtures, the things she spends her time on--the moments when she feels good enough to do something. Those precious few moments of each day she has left. Her note today talked about how in a conversation with her sister she learned that until her sister got the diagnosis of terminal cancer--until it came back the second time--she felt she had not really begun to live her life. She had already been through breast cancer and that had not done it. It was this second, terminal cancer that really made her understand what it meant to live life, to see and count every blessing, to not take anything for granted, to love every breath you take.
Between these two situations--my mind has been working all day. I hope it doesn't take something as serious as one of these situations for me to really see the blessings in my life, to show gratitude for all that I've been given, to pick up the phone when I'm thinking of someone and tell them I love them, to learn to never leave anything important unsaid, to stop holding grudges, to be anything except loving and kind--BECAUSE life is too darn short! And we never know when we will see someone for the last time. We never know when our ride is up. We simply need to take greater care with and of each other.
If there is someone out there you've been meaning to call but haven't gotten around to -- PICK UP THE PHONE NOW! If there is someone you need to forgive--DO IT. It won't get any easier! Just do it! If there is someone you need to ask forgiveness of DO THAT TOO! That won't get easier either! Don't miss your opportunity to do what's right, what's good, what you should do, what you want to do, what you came to do. I love you, N.
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