The chills

Taking a tangent from my usual light-hearted posts to share something that I think is very powerful. And yes, a little morbid. I recently came across a blog of a dying man. His writing about facing death is so sincere and thought-provoking that I can't help but read more. It would be hard not to be inspired or moved by his grace.

But now he passed and there will be no more to read. Before dying, he drafted a post with instructions to his family to post after he died. His last post. It is incredible. It seems weird to read the words of a man who is gone. His blog has exploded in popularity since - isn't that always the case? Once you're gone, you become famous. It doesn't surprise me though; I think we're all a little curious about the unknown. The unknown being death.

Here's my favorite snippet from his last post:

A wondrous place
The world, indeed the whole universe, is a beautiful, astonishing, wondrous place. There is always more to find out. I don't look back and regret anything, and I hope my family can find a way to do the same.

What is true is that I loved them. Lauren and Marina, as you mature and become yourselves over the years, know that I loved you and did my best to be a good father.

Airdrie, you were my best friend and my closest connection. I don't know what we'd have been like without each other, but I think the world would be a poorer place. I loved you deeply, I loved you, I loved you, I loved you.

What amazing last words. Each time I read them, I get the chills.

(Other interesting posts if you have the same morbid curiosity as I did: His discovery of cancer in 2007, the terminal prognosis, writing in the face of death and his last year.)