Live Like You Were Dyin'

Now, it’s our birthday this month, so I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I do want to touch a bit on something that happened to me this week. A close friend of the family committed suicide Tuesday. One day he’s there, the next, he’s gone. I’m not really wanting to belabor the tragic impact of suicide on the family, etc., but something like that really makes you think about your own life.

For one, it makes you think your life is pretty good. Things may go wrong, money or health troubles might surface, but overall, things are okay. Good days and bad days are just a part of life. I find it slightly ironic that he did this in the season leading up to Thanksgiving. For one brief, dark, moment, he could think of nothing in his life that was valuable enough to stay alive for. I think this year, I will take special care listing out all the things in my life that I’m thankful for. Being able to see the good things makes you not only appreciate them more, but it makes it easier to get through the tougher things.

Two, it makes me glad to be alive and working towards my dream. Every day that I can wake up and work on my story is a good one. I caught myself deep in thought about my book as I sat alone at a Vietnamese restaurant the other night. Normally I would be self conscious about sitting alone or whatever, but I could’ve been anywhere as deep in thought as I was. I plot-plot-plotted all the way through my vermicelli shrimp and was quite pleased with what I came up with. Although I’m not the most optimistic person, you’ve got to have some level of hope to even attempt your dream. I might never get published. But I certainly won’t if I don’t try. And I enjoy writing, writing people, writing craft...so no matter what, I’m pursuing my dream. That's more than some people ever do.

Finally, it brings together the last two topics in that life is short. Sure, the afternoons at work seem to drag on for eternity, but when you look back at the years that have flown by, it’s amazing how quickly it slips away. Too many people spend their time thinking they’ll do something...someday. When I have more money, time, energy, interest, whatever. They wake up one day and realize they wasted their chance. Although this family friend made the conscious decision to end his journey, not everyone gets the choice. Accidents and illnesses pop up every day. Not everyone lives to 98. We should all go and do and live the lives we want to live. Although country music tends to make me cry and I avoid it, the Tim McGraw song really sums it up..."live like you were dying."

I don't want anyone on the playground to waste a single minute, so go out there and make someday, today! Be grateful for what you have and start working towards what you want right now.

Okay, I’m not sure if the inspirational ending outweighed the depressing beginning, but this question should certainly get some positive juices flowing....

If you could wake up anywhere tomorrow and do anything (money and physical limitations aside) what would you do and who would you want to share it with? (Let's leave the obvious choice of strawberry Jell-o wrestling with Johnny Depp out of the equasion for this one.) One commenter will get a book of their choice.

Congratulations also go out to yesterday's winner MelJPrincess! Email Instigator with your snail mail address so she can send you your prize!

SP
Word Count Update - 15000/90000 = 16.6% completed (1/6th done)