How Would You Live Your Life?

Professor Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" reminds me of Tim McGraw's song, "Live Like You Were Dying".

What would you do? What would you say? How would you live your life if you knew you only had months to live?

Randy Pausch found out he had pancreatic cancer and thought he only had months to live when he gave his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. He wanted to leave some lessons behind for his 3 young children. Here are the lessons:

--Always have fun (be a Tigger, not an Eeyore)
--Dream big
--Ask for what you want
--Dare to take a risk
--Look for the best in everybody
--Make time for what matters
--Let kids be themselves

Make sure to go and read the article in its entirety. He tells some great stories. Also, watch the lecture itself which I have on the above video.

Pausch never expected his lecture to gain the attention that it has. Since giving it he has been able to fulfill some dreams and has been able to live longer and been able to spend more time with his kids than he thought he was going to be able too. I couldn't agree more with his lessons and I think they are worth embracing wholeheartedly!!

Deal or No Deal in KC

I did a fun, spontaneous, crazy thing this past Tuesday. My husband found out that the Deal or No Deal game show was coming to KC to do auditions for their 2007 casting call tour. I actually have never watched an entire episode of the show. Yet, in thinking about taking risks lately I had thought it would be a fun to try out for a game show. What really pushed me over the edge to do it was the auditions were Tuesday afternoon when my kids are at their homeschool co-op.

My kids are big fans of the show and their advice to me was HILARIOUS!! My oldest 2 both told me that everyone on the show is either crazy or desperate so I needed to be both. Calvin especially, had several tips that he kept giving me:

1) Act crazy and scream
2) Don't talk about politics Mom, that is too serious
3) Tell them you're in debt

I was totally cracking up. Now to the insane part of what I actually had to go through. I wasn't insane enough to camp out like some did, there were over 2,000 people that were there by early morning. I didn't come until the afternoon but I did wait 5 1/2 hours. My number was 3383 and we heard that there were over 4,000 people that showed up. I had to fill out a one page questionnaire and when it was finally my turn I got 20 SECONDS to make my case for why I should be on the show.

I had a lot of time to think about what I would say. Besides my kids I had friends giving me advice. One of my friends' husband told me to wear a cowboy hat and to show cleavage. I assured him I wasn't going to do either :-).

It was a good exercise to try and think of how you sum up your uniqueness in 20 seconds. I basically said that I was a Christian homeschooling mom of 4 but I had a wild side too and liked Harleys and tattoos. I talked about how I have a passion for life and my theme right now is Tim McGraw's song, Live Like You Were Dying. The guy that was listening to our auditions said he loved the song.

I'm sure that I didn't make it for this round but they said that they sometimes call you as long as 8 months later so who knows? Bottom line though for me was I took a risk, embraced life and didn't choke when it was my turn :-). I'm glad I did it!!

To see the KC Star's video of some of the crazier people in line go here! Also, catch Tony's take on the show :-).

Perspective

Toon Credit: Wayne Stayskal

This cartoon is my only contribution to politics in this post. My life has been getting in the way of blogging recently.

Yesterday I found out a friend of mine committed suicide. She wasn't a close friend but I'm going to her funeral today and it is still a sobering thing and makes you take restock of your life. Another friend from college let me know in her Christmas letter that her husband died this past year. Since they are my age it makes you do a double take.

My thoughts have gone to how we needlessly worry and stress out about things that in the scheme of things aren't that big of a deal compared to life or death. A quote from my earlier post: "Work hard, play hard, laugh hard, and leave the worries to your Father." Tim McGraw's song, "Live like you were dying!!"