Randy Pausch passed away from pancreatic cancer in his home today. If you have not experienced Randy's "Last Lecture" or don't know who he is you should find out. He was a father of 3, husband and professor at Carnegie Mellon University with an outlook on life that I wish we could all have. If I start to see the glass half empty I just think about him and I see it half full. To see his well-known "Last Lecture" click here. (It is over an hour long you'll want to find a quiet hour you can set aside, you owe it to yourself.)
Some of my favorite quotes are:
"Choose to see the gray area in life as good."
"Choose to be a Tigger instead of an Eeyore."
"Brick walls are there to make us show how much we want something."
"Let your kids paint on the walls. Recognize the difference between people and things."
Advice to his daughter, "Only pay attention to what a man does and nothing to what he says."
One day not long after Josh and I saw Randy's lecture on Oprah (keep in mind that Keegan did not see it), Keegan was checking the mail from the van as he likes to do. I open the sliding door on the van and he reaches out to grab the mail from the mailbox. This particular day he forgot to shut the door on the mailbox and I had driven to close to it. As I pushed the button to slide the van door closed I heard a high pitch "eeeeeeee". The van door was scraping against the metal mailbox door. I had frustration and anger in my voice. "Keegan, why did you leave the door open?" "Sorry mom I didn't mean to". Then as I pushed the button to open the van door again I heard "eeeeeeee". Keegan reached out to shut the mailbox door. I was still aggravated about the van door. We parked in the garage and I got out only to see that there were several long deep scrapes in the red paint down the side of the van. I did not hide my annoyance and frustration well and voiced it to Keegan. Keegan said, "Mom it's just a car. What's more important, us or the car?" I stopped and felt terrible, hugged him and said, "You are so right, Keegan. It is just a thing and people are so much more important than things." I immediately thought about Randy Pausch and his story about his nephew in his brand new convertible. (If you don't know the story, watch his lecture, here!) How is it that kids get these truths about life sometimes more than adults. That was a big aha moment for me. Thanks to this man and my son.
Be grateful for your health and family today in honor of Randy and his family.
Some of my favorite quotes are:
"Choose to see the gray area in life as good."
"Choose to be a Tigger instead of an Eeyore."
"Brick walls are there to make us show how much we want something."
"Let your kids paint on the walls. Recognize the difference between people and things."
Advice to his daughter, "Only pay attention to what a man does and nothing to what he says."
One day not long after Josh and I saw Randy's lecture on Oprah (keep in mind that Keegan did not see it), Keegan was checking the mail from the van as he likes to do. I open the sliding door on the van and he reaches out to grab the mail from the mailbox. This particular day he forgot to shut the door on the mailbox and I had driven to close to it. As I pushed the button to slide the van door closed I heard a high pitch "eeeeeeee". The van door was scraping against the metal mailbox door. I had frustration and anger in my voice. "Keegan, why did you leave the door open?" "Sorry mom I didn't mean to". Then as I pushed the button to open the van door again I heard "eeeeeeee". Keegan reached out to shut the mailbox door. I was still aggravated about the van door. We parked in the garage and I got out only to see that there were several long deep scrapes in the red paint down the side of the van. I did not hide my annoyance and frustration well and voiced it to Keegan. Keegan said, "Mom it's just a car. What's more important, us or the car?" I stopped and felt terrible, hugged him and said, "You are so right, Keegan. It is just a thing and people are so much more important than things." I immediately thought about Randy Pausch and his story about his nephew in his brand new convertible. (If you don't know the story, watch his lecture, here!) How is it that kids get these truths about life sometimes more than adults. That was a big aha moment for me. Thanks to this man and my son.
Be grateful for your health and family today in honor of Randy and his family.
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