By Tell that to the engineer when the time comes…because we’re all on a train outta here. It could be tonight, or in the afternoon a week from Tuesday or three years from now. I don’t know…all I know is the days are passing fast…and now is the time
Good Morning MOJO,
It has been 2 years since my cousin Amy passed away from breast cancer at the age of 41. In the final year of her life she received Monday Morning MOJO every week and loved it. We shared thoughts back and forth via e-mail many times after I would send it. This is the MOJO I wrote after she passed away on my flight back home from her Memorial Service. I have made a commitment to send this out as a Monday Morning MOJO every year at this time as a tribute to Amy and her life. I think there are great thoughts in this MOJO we can never hear to often.
Good Morning MOJO,
I got home on Saturday night from one of the most emotionally draining experiences of my life. I attended and did a reading at the funeral of my 41 year old cousin, Amy. She was beautiful and healthy…living the American dream in Salt Lake City…married to a great guy, raising her 2 beautiful daughters (12 and 14) when it all happened 16 months ago.
In the words of her daughter: “It was a clear blue spring day…Well, at least outside…Inside it was raining…The feeling of sadness and disbelief…All this just from some bad news…Not just regular bad news…But the kind where your life can fall apart in just two simple minutes…Watching her whisper, “it’s cancer.” Shock…Anger…Fear. Hearing the light sob, “Just never lose faith”…Nobody knows what it’s like…Until it happens to them…and with a mom you see things differently…You look at the mountains and see Pure beauty. …and seeing her smile…That’s everything to me…I appreciate life so much…Looking at the stars and hearing her say, “I love you more than all of the stars in the Sky”…Just looking back at how it used to be and how it could have been…How it’s going to be without her by my side…It will never be the same.”
Those words clawed their way into my brain, it felt as though someone had walked up and ripped the blinders from my eyes and forced me, again, to take a cold, hard look at the ultimate truth none of us really wants to know or admit…the truth that, strangely, has the power to wake us up and make us live before it’s too late.
"Amy is gone," the truth told me quietly, “and you will, too, and so will all the people you love and everyone else…it’s just a matter of time.” So tell me…given that, are you doing what you want to do right now with your life?…or are you putting off living your hopes and dreams because you think there’ll always be tomorrow? If my cousin were here she’d tell you different… she’d say there’ll come a time when tomorrow doesn’t show up, and you’re wasting your time if you’re not loving and laughing and enjoying your days now, while you can."
And that leaves us with a choice…we can punch the "delete" key and dump this message because we find the whole "death thing” too depressing…or we can let it be the force that finally pushes us over the line and into the life we want. Because that’s what it takes for most of us…something so strong it carries us past our fears and doubts and the terrors that come when we think about finally doing the things we’ve been dreaming about for soooo long.
Yea, I know it’s scary to think about dying, but you know, I think it’s even more scary for most people to think about living…and getting out of their old box, the one they really don’t like, and getting on with living the life they really want. But that doesn’t have to be us.
Think about Amy this morning, and know this about her…she had a great life, doing the things she loved…with the people she loved…and she’d want you to do the same.
I know…you can’t…it’s "just not possible!”, I just don’t understand, you’ve got obligations, responsibilities, the economy’s in the crapper, and "My God man, I can’t just DO what I want…I’ve got a job, bills, yada yada yada…"
Tell that to the engineer when the time comes…because we’re all on a train outta here. It could be tonight, or in the afternoon a week from Tuesday or three years from now. I don’t know…all I know is the days are passing fast…and now is the time to do what you know you need to do.
Don’t put if off, or you may just be too late.
We will miss you Amy!!!!!
Make it a GREAT week!!!!!
