Your last day on Earth

Rainbow on my birthday last year.

If this were your last day on Earth, how would you spend it?

I had a dream Thursday that really rocked my foundation. I had one day left to live. It was actually a beautiful dream, but it left me shaken.

I have not been able to stop thinking about it. What if…?

What if I really did have only one day? People often say “live every day as if it were your last” and sure, we all think that’s a great idea in theory, but to be stopped in your tracks, and to really be faced with it...

What if this were, truly, your only day?

Would you spend it complaining about the economy, your boss, the president? Would you fritter it away flipping the channels on TV, watching the Real Housewives and Snooki? Would you call friends only to gripe or gossip about others? Would you waste your energy saying unkind things, thinking unkind thoughts, yelling at drivers in traffic?

As far as we know, this is the only day we have. It doesn’t matter how lined up in a row your ducks are, how much insurance you have, how much money, how good a plan…nothing in life is guaranteed. Nothing.

If this were your only day… How would you live it?

I wouldn’t waste a second of it on regret, resentment, complaint, or negativity.

I would make sure I loved my children and my husband with my whole heart, with all my attention. I would stop to let everything sink in, the smell of their hair, the color of their eyes, their mannerisms, voices, all the beautiful details about them. I would make sure they knew how I felt about them, leaving no room for doubt. I would see them each for the miracle they truly are.

I would appreciate my friends for how unique they are, without expectation of what they should be to please me. I would tell them what they meant to me, and what a gift they have been in my life, each of them.

I would take a good look at the world around me, and notice that no matter how much we pollute, destroy, tear down…determined blades of soft grass break through the hardened ground every time it rains. What a miracle, and a testament to endurance and hope.

I would listen to beautiful music, I would sing, dance, even if I was all alone. I would tell everyone I loved them. I would sit on the floor and play with my kid. I would call someone I had let slip away. I would walk in the field and notice every miracle of nature…the fact that birds fly, the formation of rainclouds, the new grass that grows seemingly overnight, flowers that bloom even in the heart of Winter.

It looks like I’m going to have a full day, so much appreciating to do.

How will you spend your day? However you choose to spend it, may you be truly, deeply blessed.