Life Is A Dash
On July 7th, I called a friend to simply to 'Hi'.
Someone else answered the phone.
[Her husband usually answers the phone when she is tied up...she must be tied up]
"How are you related to her?' This person asked.
[I hear talking in the background...perhaps she's having a family reunion...as she never has a group of friends over at one time]
I state that I'm her friend...
[I feel like I'm interrupting something important...just want to get off the phone]
"My sister died yesterday."
[There's hundreds of people with my friends first name and I happen to call the wrong number...she's never have a bunch of people in her home at once...this is obviously the wrong number...]
I say my friends full name...[my friends' first name is a common one...it has to be the wrong number...]
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I knew she was ill. Not this ill but the possibility was there. The last time I spoke with her was about 2 months ago.
She said, "I'm doing OK."
I heard the strength in her voice and the reassurance that she was OK. I may not have talked with her much...but I could tell when she was not feeling well. I would question her more and call more often until I knew she was OK.
We usually do not go 2 months without talking. I was busy. I ignored the urge to call her a couple of times...
[Later...I'll call her later...]
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Life is a dash between 2 dates...for everyone.
“We don’t beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.”
-Randy Pausch (1960-2008), The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon
Recent Comments
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So sorry for your loss. I had a similar situation with my best friend. I console myself with the belief that she understands all where she is now and forgives me for not calling her sooner. My thoughts are with you --and thank you for the reminder.
Thanks Labman. My intention for this post was really to remind people to live their life to the fullest, without regret. That's why I posted the link for The Last Lecture. Randy really excelled as being an example of how to live life without regret.
Angib88 - I console myself with the belief that she understands all where she is now and forgives me for not calling her sooner.
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That was my exact reaction...thanks for posting.
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Thanks for the feedback Wayne.