Perspective

I need to encourage all who reads this, if you don't know about Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, you MUST read up about him. He has the potential to change your life and the way you live it. His lecture given on the heels of being newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, is now available in a book, Last Lecture. His intent was to leave his three young children with a loving message from their dying father and in the process he gave the world the gift and opportunity to change our perspective on how we live our life. If you caught him and his family on ABC last night with Diane Sawyer then you know exactly where I am coming from this morning. I was moved beyond words. I was so struck by the deep love, strength and devotion between he and his wife Jai. I paused numerous times and realized, sadly, how distant Mark and I have grown. Not because we do not love each other but because life circumstance, children, work ,time etc has caused us to miss out on each other. My gift of the night was to make a concerted effort to remember that without Mark and I , strong together, we will not see our family through this difficult moment or any other we may face in the future.For me I think his story is coming into my life at just the right moment. He said something in regards to his cancer that I am left with today. He said, Unlucky,yes, unfortunate yes but he would not call it unfair. I think I need to spend a little more time thinking about my families situation in a similar way. For us the last year has been financially devastating, the loss of our home and our savings and on a personal level , the last year has brought to our life a fear of the future for a child we love beyond words but I will no longer call it unfair. It is the life we have been given. A gift. Not a promise that we would not be tested. It becomes now, how we choose to face that test that matters. Today I choose to try and  tweek my perspective because of  a stranger who chose to share with the world his courage. He also used the analogy of comparing life to a football game. He said that at the end of the game the scoreboard does not necessarily reflect accurately the fight on the field , however if you can leave the field and know you laid everything you had out on that field then that is enough. No regrets. How many of us can say we will have no regrets? I can't right now. Maybe someday I will say that with ease. I intend to try.