Friday, January 9, 2009
R.P.'s TLL.
Hello, This is Craig. I just came back from my Tacoma doctor's visit and some r&r at Rick and Jennifer's. An epidural and some new instructions have me back and my feet again. It's given me an attitude boost also. I'll take it. My angle on the The Last Lecture has to do with "attitude". I admire the way Randy dealt with his short time he had to live. This guy was a real throwback..his approach to many of life's trials, growing up, seem to come from old fashion values. Maybe thats just the way I think of them? Things like.. the way he handled coach Grahams giving him hell, somehow he knew hard work and fundamentals were in his best interest...adopting the montra of his hero..I don't believe in no-win scenarios..luck happens when hard work meets opportunity...if you want to work for Disney..do it...add in humility and a sense of humor and this adds up to ATTITUDE. I hope his wife and kids are doing well! Kara, thanks for the book choice and sharing. Final note: Larry will be selecting a new book soon.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Kara. Just read your blog. How strong you and Jeff are as parents. I feel blessed to have you guys in our " Family." About the " Last Lecture". I had a conversation with Craig about dying { we were discussing the book }, and the topic of my time in Vietnam came up. Drawing on my experiences there I believe there are different mind sets to dying depending on the situation. Just being in Vietnam in a combat zone and knowing Death was lurking out there made me nervous. When being overrun and hand-to-hand fighting was imminent I realized the possibility existed that I could be killed. I was scared s...less! Another time we were in a helicopter that had been subjected to land mines and heavy ground fire. We were shot to "doll rags" and I knew I was going to die. In that instance a calming peace came over me and I was transported back to my childhood to a happy time and place {with brother Craig}. I think circumstances dictate mind set. I think Paush's situation was the worst. The anticipation. Again, God bless you Kara and Jeff. Larry
The Last Lecture
I am glad that so far everyone has felt that committing the time to reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch was time well spent. Though the premise of the book was extremely sad, I felt like reading it for a second time because I enjoyed it so much. As a healthy parent of 2 great kids, I couldn't help but wish I had the strength, fortitude and ability to reflect that Randy Pausch exhibited during some of his last days.
While reading his book, I took a bit of a different perspective then I thought I would. We are parents who had to face the death of a child long before it should ever have to be. I kept asking myself if we had done and said everything we needed to as Cooper and Campbell's parents, knowing we were facing the end of his life. Though he was still young, we wanted to be sure Coop's life was full, that we would have no regrets and that Campbell would not suffer any undue side effects from losing his treasured brother. It was the same type of planning Randy did, only we weren't planning for us. I remember the day when we met at Children's Hospital for the last time, Jeff, myself, mom ,Uncle Rick and many of Coop's doctors and some support staff were all sitting around a big table. Jeff and I never really had our heads in the clouds during our experience with Coop, so we went in knowing the overall purpose of the "meeting".. However, when the conversation went on, I remember having this overwhelming feeling when it was finally put out there, he most definitely would not survive this illness. No one had ever said that this was the end before. We knew this day could come, but never had to hear it so frankly. Though you think my first thought would be Coop, mine wasn't ... it was Campbell. I kept asking myself how was he going to be able to go through this whole experience and not be negatively influenced by it. Would he ever be "normal"? What were we going to have to do as parents to get him through this? Did we have the strength to survi ve this ourselves?Obviously Coop was our primary focus, but we were the survivors left to continue living, hopefully someday happily again. In the end we feel thankful that the whole experience made us a stronger family rather then the opposite. Experiences like Randy Pausch's and ours can make or break people, and luckily the latter was not the case.
What we realized is when Coop died, the life we knew died with him. We were left to start again, to figure out what life was supposed to look like now, but the beauty of it all was we were left in charge of making the choice- live and live well, or not- that's what it really comes down to. Randy Pausch set his family up to live and to live well. We look at our life now and wonder how we could be so lucky to be where we are. Emerson would have never been, life would not be as rich and we would not know the "secret" we know about living, had our special boy Coop not taught us that.
While reading his book, I took a bit of a different perspective then I thought I would. We are parents who had to face the death of a child long before it should ever have to be. I kept asking myself if we had done and said everything we needed to as Cooper and Campbell's parents, knowing we were facing the end of his life. Though he was still young, we wanted to be sure Coop's life was full, that we would have no regrets and that Campbell would not suffer any undue side effects from losing his treasured brother. It was the same type of planning Randy did, only we weren't planning for us. I remember the day when we met at Children's Hospital for the last time, Jeff, myself, mom ,Uncle Rick and many of Coop's doctors and some support staff were all sitting around a big table. Jeff and I never really had our heads in the clouds during our experience with Coop, so we went in knowing the overall purpose of the "meeting".. However, when the conversation went on, I remember having this overwhelming feeling when it was finally put out there, he most definitely would not survive this illness. No one had ever said that this was the end before. We knew this day could come, but never had to hear it so frankly. Though you think my first thought would be Coop, mine wasn't ... it was Campbell. I kept asking myself how was he going to be able to go through this whole experience and not be negatively influenced by it. Would he ever be "normal"? What were we going to have to do as parents to get him through this? Did we have the strength to survi ve this ourselves?Obviously Coop was our primary focus, but we were the survivors left to continue living, hopefully someday happily again. In the end we feel thankful that the whole experience made us a stronger family rather then the opposite. Experiences like Randy Pausch's and ours can make or break people, and luckily the latter was not the case.
What we realized is when Coop died, the life we knew died with him. We were left to start again, to figure out what life was supposed to look like now, but the beauty of it all was we were left in charge of making the choice- live and live well, or not- that's what it really comes down to. Randy Pausch set his family up to live and to live well. We look at our life now and wonder how we could be so lucky to be where we are. Emerson would have never been, life would not be as rich and we would not know the "secret" we know about living, had our special boy Coop not taught us that.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Last Lecture
I agree with Larry that Randy Pausch handled himself with dignity and courage and left his family, especially his children, with powerful, positive guidelines for living their lives. Not an easy accomplishment for living parents. It is obvious that he was a brilliant, vital person, and a long discussion could ensue regarding why "bad things happen to good people." Or, a long discussion could be had about how nobly Randy lived his last days. But, I find myself thinking instead of various death scenarios, which I don't even want to get into here. One of the most intriguing discussions I had though was with Craig describing the conversation he had with Larry about being in situations in Vietnam where Larry knew he "could" die and in a particular situation where he was "certain he was going to die." Evidently, in the situation where Larry really thought he was about to die, he felt a sense of peace and found himself on the chicken coop roof in Indiana with Craig when they were about 5 and 6 years old. If you haven't heard that story, it's definitely worth getting Larry into a story-telling mood. Anyway, the book is inspiring, and thought-and-discussion-provoking. It's too bad we can't discuss this one in person. --Jennifer
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