What If Today Was My Last?

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What if today was my last day on this planet?

I’m going to a funeral this week for a mom who left her home to go for a run and never returned.  She has two daughters both are school-aged.  And she was a beloved member of her community.  And this all makes me think about today.  What if today was my last day?

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Wrapping my head around the idea that she is gone is just impossible.  How can a perfectly healthy person literally drop dead?  And I’m not saying that for shock value, I’m asking this as a mom of three who is trying to process how this could actually happen.

I tend to be a spiral-type thinker.  If my husband doesn’t answer a text in the appropriate amount of time that I think it would take to answer a text I assume he has died.  I don’t assume that he may not be near his phone.  I don’t assume that he didn’t hear the phone buzz.  No, I go straight to the crazy.

What if today was my last day?  Would I do things differently?

And so as I’m sitting around trying to make sense of what has just happened I start to spiral think.  Did she know that when she left her home it would be the LAST time she closed her front door?  Did she know it would be the LAST time she dropped her daughters off at school?  Did she know it was the LAST summer she would have, the LAST Christmas?  Did she know?

My answer is that no, she didn’t know.  And that answer scares me.

Because if she didn’t know and now she is gone, how am I to know when my LAST of all these things will be.  And what am I doing to make each of these milestones special?

I know I can’t live my life in a constant state of waiting for the end, but I also know that I can live my life in a more celebratory way.  Instead of focusing on all of the little things that bother me, the annoyances I have because I HAVE children, I need to celebrate.

The moment I heard the news of this mom’s passing I immediately sent my friend something to cheer her up.  I can’t waste another minute thinking I should do something, I need to just DO!

I don’t know the number of days I have left.  Today could be my last one.  The only thing I can do is leave a legacy for my children.  I want my legacy to be celebratory.  I want them to remember how much I cheered them on and loved them.  I don’t want them to think they were a burden or made my life difficult.

I have faith that this life is not the end, instead, it is only the very very beginning.  And I want my start to be full of celebration – no matter the circumstances.

And so, despite being afraid of what this world may bring, today I am going to purposefully choose joy in all things and through all things.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. That was a good question . If today were my last I am afraid it would be uneventful. Nothing much goes on after a mom raises 2 sons who marry women that just don’t want to share in their husbands family. It wasn’t always like that but after 12 years it has come to that. If I complain I get cut off totally so I try to exist.

    My husband of 43 years shows signs of inheredited dementia and we have no communication. He forgets what he should and recalls what he should not. He was a workaholic his whole life so my boys were my life.

    My dil had my fourth GS 7 weeks ago. We took care of her 2 yr old for 3 days but when she come home she took the baby upstairs and only wanted her mother in the room. I have only seen the baby once. Both dil’s treat me this way and this time I think it broke my spirit

    For some people we realize that our last day on earth is really not going to mean losing anything because all we loved is already gone. Once children are grown and they are with cold spouses the MiL is the first to be iced out.

    I look forward to the day where I might be among the people I have lost too soon. My job here is done. I am glad to see that there are still Moms that have an important role to fill. May you always feel irreplaceable and never have to fill finished.

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