Blog #723: One Last One

Over the years that I’ve written this blog…

My heart has been pinched
a few times by readers’ emails.

But the email below pinched
harder than any I’ve ever received.

______

My friend Shawn,

You are my friend, though we’ve never met. We’ve bonded over the years through our email exchanges. I’ve always received pleasure from the hopefulness of your blog and our shared messages.

As you know, I have been surviving stage 4 cancer for a few years. Bad news to share. My time is ending, and it is suggested that I get my final details in order. I won’t drag this email on with depressive news, but I would like to ask, if you were knowingly in the last weeks/days of your life, what would you do? I know your answer will be thoughtful and maybe offer something I haven’t thought about; it’s what you’ve always done for me.

Thank you for everything, Shawn. In taking a hint from how you sign your emails to me, I’ll sign off the same to you now.

Gratitude.

______

My friend, my friend, MY friend…

I’m rocked to read your words.

And it’s me that feels gratitude for having known YOU. Of course, I will keep my optimism HIGH in the sky that we WILL continue to exchange messages…into the far future.

But I honor you, and I honor your request.

“What would I do if I knew it was MY time to say goodbye?”

I sense my best answer might be different than most, but before I get to that, let me offer a few ideas of some things I might also DO.

1. I would seek conversation with strangers in front and behind me in the grocery line…and if they showed me kindness, I would buy their groceries.

2. I would write reflective and joyful messages to the people who made a difference in my life.

3. I would watch the sunset and rise…in the same day…every day.

4. I would contact my local animal shelter and commit to paying the adoption fee for the next 10 people who adopted senior pets.

5. I would spend time loving my pets hard…because in them, I always found my greatest happiness.

6. I would treat myself to a massage every week.

7. I would handle my business, arrangements, and personal loose ends that could be a burden to others after I’m gone.

But my biggest DO would be this.

I would create one final great adventure.

Living great adventures has lifted me to my highest soul altitudes in life.
They have breathed life into my thoughts, feelings, words…and me.

The travel.
The exploration of the unknown.
The “What’s around the next corner?” feeling.

So in my last days…

I deserve to live one last ONE.

I hope that I’ve come through for you.
I hope that your heart is sparked by one of my suggestions.

Please absolutely know…

It is MY lucky blessing to know YOU. And it is my great blessing to have received every one of your emails…and the hope I hold onto powerfully now…your future emails.

Gratitude, MY friend…

S.

(Audio version)