Carpe Diem

It's early folks. Don't ever believe the time it says I posted the blog, for it seems to be wrong no matter what time zone I'm in, but it's the crack of dawn nonetheless.

I'm heading out to the high school from which I graduated to read some of my work to the students and to talk about what it is like to live as a professional theatre artist. I haven't been there for 20 years.

I see in the news this morning that H1N1 has killed a 13-year old boy and last night I learned of the death of my cousin's mother-in-law from cancer. She was not old and she lived a healthy lifestyle. It was fast.

Death is on the front burner today. But it's okay. It's scary but it's okay.

There is a documentary out there called Griefwalker and the protagonist in the film is a man by the name of Stephen Jenkinson, a theologian and leader in the hospice movement who has some radical things to say about death and dying.

I heard him speak in Whitehorse once and his talk has stayed with me. He believes that if we are not acknowledging every single day that we're going to die then we're not really living. He argues that we will only ever know the profound joy of living by truly embracing the grief that accompanies the acceptance of our dying.

I believe he is right. Every day I pray for the courage to live this day fully as though it were my last. It's terrifying to confront death so matter-of-factly but boy does it make life rich.

Inspiring Message of the Day: When I am truly awake to the fact that I may not get another day to live I can then live more fully, rejoicing and celebrating the fact that I'm alive today.