Last September/October, my friend Jacob came over to hang out and said:
"hey, have you heard about the Carnegie-Mellon professor who gave his last lecture?"
He'd read an article in WSJ and together, we watched the video on YouTube.
To say it was inspirational would be an understatement of epic proportions. By now, you probably have seen it.
Randy Pausch, father of 3, husband, and Comp Sci professor is dying of pancreatic cancer and has only months to live. His lecture leaves you feeling uplifted about what it means to really live life.
Last week, Jacob dropped me a note:
I picked up 2 copies of "The Last Lecture
" by Randy Pausch - the professor whose lecture we watched. It's a very reassuring book that I think you'll like a lot. It's also pretty short
I think Jacob was trying to send me a few messages with this book and I appreciate them. Some of them include:
- Continue to live your life with an appreciation for the moment
- Don't forget to be humble
and much more.
As I read this book, I thought of Randy's predicament, leaving 3 kids under 7 behind and how he desperately wants them to understand who he was...and struggling with the best way to do that.
I was reminded of a conversation I had with Michael Fishman after his mother's death, where he said:
"you know, I was thinking about your blog the night before the funeral. You know that you are leaving your kids...and your grandkids...such a gift. You are leaving them your own words and pictures, so they will really know who you were and what you thought. It's really great."
It made me feel quite good and encouraged me to continue my blogging efforts, if for that reason alone.
This book had me alternating between tears and laughter. It's not about dying. It's about LIVING.
I HIGHLY recommend it.
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