Alive

One of the lessons in death is to appreciate life, to live fully, to feel grateful, to carpe diem! My Uncle Tom, diagnosed with spine cancer in October, was given 2-5 months to live. It was shocking news at the time, but as is the human way, you find a way to accept this and to push it away from your consciousness, especially when the person seems to be holding their own. Though Tom was becoming thinner, weaker and mentally less sharp, the fact that he was living at home, able to ambulate and to share a laugh and a story with others, helped anesthetize us to his pending death.

Yesterday, as I pounded out a 7-mile run, Tom was being admitted to the hospice unit of his community hospital. Apparently during the week he began to retreat - not getting out of bed some days, not eating, and talking to and about people unknown to my Aunt Diane. He asked Diane to take him to the hospital yesterday. He is in terrible pain that all the morphine in the world isn't taking away. He cannot walk, and therefore, cannot go home. It seems the end is imminent, but I know people rally and can have multiple bouts of coming to the edge before actually departing. Is Tom sad? Soared? Accepting? Ready? I don't know. I'm assuming all of the above. He has a strong faith, and I'm sure he's fed up with suffering. In the end, isn't death the hardest for the living?

Death reminds us to not put life on hold, to set fear aside so you can do all the things your heart desires, to have no regrets. If you were to die tomorrow, would you have lived the way you wanted to live? Did you make a difference? Was your work meaningful? Did you see the sights and live the experiences that called to you? Have you, or are you becoming the person you'd like to be remembered for? What would you like your eulogy to say? And would that eulogy be true of the you today?