Photo by tanakawho; creative commons license
Over lunch with “Luna,” we heard the news that Professor Randy Pausch of the now-famous “Last Lecture” had passed away. We both paused, tears in our eyes, to honor this man we had known only through his lecture and subsequent book on fulfilling childhood dreams. He was an inspiration to us both, and today was no exception.
I also left our lunch time with a greater admiration for Luna.
She told me of a science-fiction TV episode–Stargate, I believe–which she’d recently watched with several other people, about a race of people with a lifespan of 100 perfect days. Afterward, someone posed the question: would you rather live forever (or even, say, 80 years) of “this” or would you rather live 100 perfect days? Everyone, with the sole exception of Luna, had agreed that they’d want to keep right on living, no matter how hard life can be at times.
Luna’s dissenting opinion stirred quite a controversy. What? She’d be happy to live only 100 perfect days? Was she suicidal? Insane?
Have any of us had 100 perfect days? she asked me. And I reluctantly agreed. Finding 100 perfect days in 365 days a year for 80 years is not as easy as it might sound. And especially not 100 consecutively perfect days.
Luna is one of those extremely rare people who is totally, completely content with her life. There is no great goal left that she aspires to. She has fulfilled all her dreams and lives in harmony and fun, every day, with only a few glitches to deal with here and there. She is happy, confident, spiritual, sound, deeply in love with her husband, and appreciative of her friends. She is not reckless or eager to die, but she is ready to die should that time come before 80 years or before forever.
Many people talk about finding peace of mind. She has, and I’m glad she shared her contentment with me.
Leave a Reply