3 1/2 Days to Live

There is a Nickelback song that goes "If today was your last day, and tomorrow was too late, could you say goodbye to yesterday? Would you live each moment like your last, leave old pictures in the past, donate every dime you had? Would you call old friends you never see, reminisce old memories, would you forgive your enemies?"

Yesterday, a friend Michael was killed in a freak accident, a crane fell on him at work. He was 43. We had just been riding together this past Sunday. Rode with him to his house at the end of the day, he grabbed his things from his brother's bike, we chit chatted for a few and said see ya later. Who knew that he would only hae 3 1/2 more days to live. He passed away early Thursday afternoon, on his daughter's 21st birthday.

I know most of us have heard the news of someone of our own age, tragically passing away, far too young to die. It gets you thinking, doesn't it? Everyone says "Life is short", but do we really, truly realize this? Can you accept it and wrap our mind around the fact that we ALL are on borrowed time. Our days are numbered, and every day that clicks by on the calendar, is one day closer to your last day on earth. The problem is that we don't know how many more days we have, so we keep trudging along doing our daily things, and 'getting around to' whatever it is we need to or should do. We carry on as if we had an unlimited, infinite amount of time to 'get around to it'. Well, yesterday I had a reality check, and I cannot get it out of my head. He had 3 1/2 days left to live. What would you do if you knew something like that?

I found myself wondering if he told his two daughters he loved them. He was a good man, a good Dad, gave his girls everything he could and then some. He got to spend time with his brother over the weekend, I know that, because I was there. I saw no I Love You's, of course, because you just don't do that every day to your family, especially men, even if you only see your brother every few weeks or so. They're only a town away, you can talk to them any time you want. I am close friends with Michael's brother and his wife, and we all rode together fairly often in the summer. Never during any of those rides did I wonder if that would be the last time I saw him.

And so I obsess, 3 1/2 days to live...3 1/2 days left to be someone's friend, someone's Dad, someone's brother, someone's child. 3 1/2 days left to have a friend, have a sibling, a spouse, a child. Can you wrap your head around it? I can't stop thinking. What would you do if you knew?

What would you do...would you call up a friend and tell them what they meant to you...would you repair broken relationships with someone you had a falling out with and miss their presence in your life...would you tell your children, no matter how much trouble and stress they've been for the last 5 years or more, how much you loved them, or would you continue distance for fear they would take it as permission to hurt you even more? Would you walk out of a dysfunctional relationship that you should have ended long ago, but didn't because you were too afraid? Would you seek out and go to your soul mate, or would you turn to your significant other who has been there the past decade or more out of respect for their loyalty? Would you leave the stressful job that only causes you sleepless nights and tension or would you still be trying to fix what you see is so ridiculously wrong?

We all have a bucket list, and it's nice to think that you can do all the things you've always wanted to do. But I'm talking the real core of what they say goes on in those moments right before you die...thoughts about your friends and family.
My thoughts keep going back to the same thing. What would we all do if we knew...and why aren't we doing it now because we don't know when the last time you'll see someone will be?

"Each day's a gift and not a given right" "Every second counts 'cause there's no second try, so live like you'll never live it twice"