Randy Pausch, who wrote The Last Lecture, and shortly thereafter, died, wrote a book about living while he was dying.
I’m writing a book about living while I’m living.
We are all dying, son, it’s simply a fact of life.
Leave a trail for your Family. That’s what I’m doing for you, son.
Yesterday, as my crazy mind was racing, I recalled Randy’s life, his book, and both touched my soul and inspired me, as well as countless millions. And the sad fact that his “anniversary” is soon – July 25. Two years ago Randy left his earthly life.
Somehow, I recalled the cassette tapes I used to make for your Mother. I’d pour over our CD collection, for hours, and create loving tributes for your Mom.
Must have been five or six tapes total. Most likely over 100 of the best Love songs ever written. Most of them Country songs, and most of them obscure songs, meaning they weren’t hits or mainstream.
Here’s one of them, called “Living In A Moment (You Would Die For)”:
I still have the post-it note up on my office wall, near the phone.
Crazy, isn’t it? I mean the things we think about and the things we do.
So, in the midst of the fairly intense topic the past few days, I’m going to switch gears today, and revisit a topic from ten days ago.
Something like 14 months ago, we thought our beloved Canine Son (Yellow Lab) Carter was going to die, perhaps in less than one week.
I asked our son, “What do you think we should do with Carter before he leaves us?”
“Take him for ice cream at Twistee Treat”, he said, without hesitating.
And that’s exactly what we did. In hind sight, that trivial post-it note probably didn’t need to be written. I mean, what Father would forget to do something as important as honoring this “last request”?
And then there’s the next question, “Why does this adult (50) still have a stupid little post-it note hanging on his office wall?”
We’ve been talking about a beloved Family pet, our Yellow Lab, Carter.
Virtually all pet owners understand the remarkable bond humans forge with their pets. And it’s especially strong in a pet relationship where there are no children.
Here’s the gift we received from what we thought was our very last weekend with Carter. We were staying at Mitchell’s Sand Castles, which is pet-friendly and on a quiet end of Sanibel Island. It was our 22 visit.
After a nice day on the Sanibel beach, with Carter at our side all day, we had a nice dinner in our cottage. I was walking contemplatively through the dark and tropical setting, taking the trash up to the road.
When around one dark corner, I was mildly startled by another man, standing by the road. Unusual, and a little freaky.
We said casual greetings and then he asked me, “Were you the guy with the Yellow Lab on the beach this afternoon?”
“Yeah, that was me.”
He said, and I will never forget this, “I’ve never seen a dog wag it’s tail so much. You must have the happiest dog on earth.”
There was a reason we went to Sanibel for Carter’s last weekend (so we thought) on earth.
It was so I could meet the total stranger out by the road, waiting for his pizza delivery guy.
This is what we thought October 2008, just over a year ago.
Our beloved Canine Son, Carter, a nine-year old Yellow Lab, was very sick.
Our Vet spotted an unusual sore in the roof of Carter’s mouth during his routine annual exam two months prior.
The sore ate a hole in the roof of his mouth at an alarming rate – what seemed literally overnight. In hindsight, maybe we panicked.
We honestly thought that Carter may not see another weekend and we quickly made arrangements for “one last trip” to our favorite Family vacation spot, Sanibel Island.
We talked with our son (eight) about death. We talked about our favorite Carter memories. We talked about what we’d miss the most about Carter.
We said goodbye to Carter.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Carter is still with us. He still struggles with the complications from the hole when he drinks and eats, but overall, it’s a miracle he’s still here.
“When I was young and free my imagination had no limits, I dreamed I could change the world.
As I grew older and wiser, I realized the world would not change, and I decided to shorten my sights somewhat and change only my Country. But it seemed immovable.
As I entered my twilight years, in one last attempt, I sought only to change my family, those closest to me; but alas, they would have none of it.
And now here I lie on my deathbed, and I realize perhaps for the first time, that if I had only changed myself first, then by example I may have influenced my family, and with their encouragement and support, I may have bettered my country.
And who knows? I may have changed the world.”
Source: Anglican Bishop, written around 1100 AD – from the Crypt of Westminster Abbey
