Last year a friend of mine, recommended The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch to me. If you are reading this, you know who you are, and I appreciate the recommendation. We haven’t seen each other for a while but I enjoy our short conversations and your insights. Thanks Pal.
If you haven’t heard of Randy Pausch, just google him or search “The Last Lecture” on YouTube. Be prepared, it is an emotional read/watch and Randy’s story may change your life perspective.
The Last Lecture is a must read for everyone. I don’t care if you are old, young, healthy, ill or just looking for something to read. Randy’s story reminds us how to live life. Randy’s stories are throughout the book to keep us entertained and relatable events to our own daily lives. Randy was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he wanted to a chance to give one last lecture and write this book for his family and children. He talks about all sorts of memories from childhood to marriage and about being a father. Some of the stories are funny, others are emotional, but they have a certain quality to them that you quite can’t put your finger on until the reveal at the end of the book. He talks about his wedding night and a significant moment with a hot air balloon. About his wife crashing their two cars together in the driveway, and an emergency during the birth of one of their son’s, just to name a few. There are little lessons throughout, and you can revert back and read this book again and again.
This book brought back many memories of Taunya and I and our unique history. We worked at a golf course together and became great friends that first year. We knew we had a connection, but it just wasn’t in the universe's cards at that moment. That fall, Taunya had some health complications. She tried to return to work the next spring but wasn’t able to do so.
A lot happened that year and we finally went on our first date in the fall of 2005. We bought a house in the summer of 2006, got engaged that fall and got married in 2007. A lot happened in between all of this. A lot of tears, a lot of joy, a lot of uncertainty and a lot of dark times, but we pushed forward not allowing it to affect our love and our journey together.
There were times I didn’t think Taunya would survive what she was going through. I couldn’t see how she could survive. The doctors were not providing solutions and it seemed like she was “wasting away.” She’s strong, smart and resilient and she wasn’t going to let this get in our way. We moved forward together, determined to live our lives without fear and the unknown of our future.
Many years have gone by since that time and we are still determined to live our lives without fear. Taunya is so good at this each and everyday. I’m working at it, but my apprehension kicks in, and I tend to down spiral a bit. Taunya pulls me back up and we move forward side by side. She never wavers and keeps repeating over and over.
“Stop worrying about the How. Remember the Why and the How will work itself out.”
By letting go of the how we have surrendered to the many mundane tasks that we used to allow to occupy our minds. Because of this, very rarely are we down at the same time. We typically balance each other out quite well and I think this is what makes us so strong together. There is no finger pointing or why haven’t you done this or that.
We are a team and we strive to be advocates for ourselves, and for our children and their future. We know relationships are complicated, but we want our children to see a strong foundation with parents who communicate, work together and aren’t too tired to play catch, read a story, and/or to learn something new.
A common theme in The Last Lecture is time and that “Time is all you have….” And I am left with so many questions about how we let our time be wasted worrying about what other people think. Spending so much time doing things that don’t make us better humans.
I leave you with a question that has been circling in my mind, if you look back on your life and the time you’ve spent thus far, are you proud of it or do you wish it were different?
Guess what… you are in luck because if you are reading this and you wish it were different, there is still time to fulfill that wish to change.
Why not start now?
Logging off for now,
Rob
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