Live Like You Were Dying — This Friday’s Song

This Friday’s song is “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw. This 2004 song is a personal favorite of mine. I was going through a very difficult divorce, seperated from my son, and facing some difficult issues at my job. While those things paled compared to the issue faced by the person in the song, it did really speak to me. The song helped me focus on what was truly important. I decided that it would be this Friday’s song not only because it is a favorite that I thought you would enjoy, but because of three “events” that happened in the last forty- eight hours.

#1

The first were two posts, one current and one a “memory” from my friend Lisa Pode Hughes in Boston. I met her and her husband Bruce when they bought my house in Wilmington, MA in 2006. I had owned the home for almost ten years and offered to stay in touch in case they ever had any questions about things I had discovered or had done to the home while I owned it. She joined Facebook early and we stayed connected that way. The house has a fabulous garden that they expanded and improved. I have always enjoyed seeing what they did with it.

The facebook “memory” was from 2011. Lisa sent a message congratulating Teresa and I on getting married. She and Bruce had gotten married a few weeks before. We shared a lot of similarities as “couples. Even though our ongoing connection was just through Facebook, I always felt it was a little deeper because of that. Her post this week was to share the sad news that Bruce lost his valiant battle with cancer this week. Our heart goes out to Lisa and their family. It is a reminder to each of us how important “sweet time” is.

#2

The second thing was another Facebook post from my friend Pat Romich in Boston. I met Pat when MatrixOne acquired Synchronicity in August 2004. Pat suffered a major heart attack on 2008. He “died” for three and half minutes. Fortunately, with the love of his wife and family, the skill of his doctors, and the grace of God, he survived. Pat’s post is a great reminder about how fragile life is and how quickly it can change.

#3

The third thing that happened was a call from my sister-in-law at about 1 am in the morning yesterday. My mother-in-law had a severe head injury back in 2013 and suffers from dementia. Yesterday she had fallen trying to go the bathroom. She had a deep laceration on her forehead and the bleeding would not stop. Teresa and I took her to the TMH emergency room. They stitched up the cut which was really deep. The also did a CT to make sure there were no other issues. She is home and resting today. It could have been much worse. It made me reflect on whether I was being the son-in-law she deserves every day.

Live Like You Were Dying

These three events really made me stop and pause. Am I enjoying my life to the fullest? Do I have my priorities right? I am spending “sweet time” like I should? Am I being the person I should be? The lyrics sum it up better than I ever could…

I have seen McGraw perform this song live two times. The first was in the Boston Garden. The second was in West Palm Beach with Teresa. Both times, it was almost like he was sharing it directly with me despite there being thouisands of other people there. I picked two versions of the song to share this week. The first is the official music video from McGraw’s YouTube channel. The second one is a live performance from CMT that I really like. Hope you take a minute to enjoy both of these performances and, especially, that you take the time to reflect on what you need to do to “live like you were dying.”