My last day

I’m sure when some readers saw that title, there was a collective Wooohoooo! No more blog posts!

But not that kind of last day.

Last week, when I was coming in from a long night after broadcasting football, I was battling a bad headache. Again. I’ve had several lately, but this one seemed especially bad.

I figured it had to do with extended period of concentration that’s required to work on-air. Or maybe it was from the constant Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz that rang in my ear for the entire broadcast. Or maybe it was allergies.

I had no idea what it was. And as I crawled into bed, I didn’t really care. It felt like my head was splitting. I knew deep down that I wasn’t dying – I just felt like I was. No, I thought, I hope I don’t die. I don’t want this to be my last day.

But as I lay there, waiting for the medicine or sleep to take hold, I didn’t really care which, I thought, if this was my last day, I really couldn’t have asked for a better one. I don’t think I would have done anything differently.

I got to see and talk to my daughter.

I got to fix breakfast and lunch for my son, and joke with him on his way to school.

I got to teach two classes and interact with students.

I got see and talk to friends at work.

I got to write a fun blog post.

I got to talk to someone by text that I really care about.

I got to eat lunch with my mom at my favorite restaurant in town. And, to make it even better, I got to have a piece of friend chicken right off the stove. It may have been the best piece I ever had.

I got to play football at the park with my son.

I got to broadcast a football game on the radio, something I love to do. And my broadcast partner and I got to joke around and give each other a hard time on the air.

I got to eat a barbecue sandwich.

I got to watch my son run around on the football field after the game was over, all the time with a huge smile on his face.

Really, what would I have done any differently? I guess if I could have chosen anything for my last day, I would have gone to a beach somewhere with good-sized waves and spent the entire day boogie boarding and trying my hand at surfing. But it’s hard to plan something like that for your last day.

We’ve all heard how important it is to stop and smell the roses. But I think we’ve been misled a bit. Instead of just smelling them, we need to spend some time working with them, enjoying them – whatever your roses might be.

Obviously, that day wasn’t my last. (If it was, you’d be listening to this blog post as narrated by Rod Serling. And that might be even creepier.)

I don’t know if I have one more day or ten thousand and one more days (Oh, please, please, please, PLEASE!!!). But I hope I can always have a little time getting to do some things I enjoy on every one of them.

What is one thing you would like to do if you knew it was your last day?