The Last Lecture

For those of you that did not see the short-lived headlines on CNN, Randy Pausch died yesterday. He was a Carnegie Mellon University professor who became well known for his inspirational attitude as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The university sponsors a series titled "The Last Lecture" in which professors are invited to give what they would consider their last talk at the university. It is a hypothetical experience designed to have them think about what words they would like to leave with their students. Randy gave his in September 2007 shorty after he was told his cancer was terminal. This is a link to a Time magazine story. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1826574,00.htmlI know we all see inspirational stories often. His is similarly inspiring. Maybe the reason it caught my attention this week is because I have a friend who is helping a family deal with the death of their 2 year old daughter or maybe because I have a friend who is in the midst of chemotherapy for breast cancer or maybe because I have a friend wanting patiently (or not so patiently) for medical test results. I know all of you have similar stories. This week, I have been reminded of how fortunate I am.Back to Randy.....The truth is that he is right. We will all die. And, the quality of our life is not so much measured in time but in the experience we make of it. So, make your life what you want it to be and enjoy the experience of living. I have decided to face a few of my anxieties including showing in a horse show (jumping) and maybe (still a maybe here) jumping out of a perfectly good airplane (once). And, I am going to spend more time making sure that the people I care about it, know it. What are you going to do?

Note: This is a post taken from my myspace post Summer 08