What would you do if you were told you had 12 weeks to live?
12 weeks left, on this earth, in your house, with your family
in a mere 3 months your earthly body will be gone
the sharp mind that holds all those memories, the beautiful spirit that has inspired so many students, that lovely person will just disappear
Sure the songs and movies make it sound like an opportunity to do some great things - skydiving, climbing the Himalayas, riding a wild bronco, but what would you really do?
Have you finished all your projects, scrapbooks and photo albums, are your affairs in order, is the calendar full of your scribbled instructions so the family will make it to all of their ballgames and dances and meetings, will they remember all the little things to do like writing book reports and finding lost shoes and washing football pants and ordering a cap and gown?
If you had lived long and are now winding down, coasting into the inevitable end of life it would be different, but you are still young and there are so many things yet to do and say and be...
Little things we all take for granted, like watching your kids grow up, seeing how they turn out, like holding that first grandchild in your arms.
What would you do? Cry, get mad, shout WHY ME? Why are all those murderers and terrorists and pedophiles and a whole world of bad people staying healthy while my frail body is racked with cancer? WHY ME? It's just not fair.
If you are a person of faith you can maybe justify it by saying that God needs you up in heaven with him, you are just the kind of person he is looking for, real angel material. (which of course you are)
What would you do if you had 12, well, make that 11 weeks now?
Just some random thoughts as the neighborhood mourns recent bad news, as we watch the family across the street going down their check list - family pictures made, cemetery plot chosen. The doctors' grim news last week really hit home in this community, everyone is pitching in with meals and fundraising and whatever can be done, but of course the ultimate need is for a miracle to happen, and while we are not holding our breath, we are all hoping...
