Less then two weeks remain in NOLA. There is always a business that takes over the waining days you have in a place. And while there is so much to look forward to, there is also so much I will miss. The undertone of this - the compare and contrast if you will - is that while I spend my final days in NOLA one of my brothers oldest friends is spending the final days of his life. After a heroic battle with cancer that has dictated his life for the past 18 months he has been admitted to hospice and well...
I wish my students could have met this young man. Who faced every challenge in his life as an opportunity, saw the good in all those around him and while I didn't always understand the decisions he made, lived the life he chose for himself to the fullest. He has spent the last 18 months since his diagnosis surrounded by people who love him. Engaging in the things he was passionate about and not wasting one day. I have said often over the past 18 months that while his illness is tragic, he has been lucky to have had the chance so many of us never do. To truly live his life...and the real amazing thing about this young man is that he did that even before he knew it would be cut short.
I want my boys here in NOLA who see death everyday through violence and drugs to understand that we always do have choices about the way we chose to live - even if don't get to make them about the way we die. That hopes and dreams can survive and be made into realities even when it seems like the world has dealt us a bad hand.
When we first found out he was sick I had already made my decision to leave Boston, but his illness served as a reminder that we really do have to make the best of each day. Even when they are full of work and stress and deadlines and it all starts to feel like we just have to get through it so we can get on to the next thing. Life is the getting through it. It took me 30 years and moving across the country to see that. To slow down. To not let future plans good and bad take away from the here and now.
So I may only have 11 days left in NOLA. And they may be full days full of meetings and packing and friends and students. But I never get them again and so I will hold on to each of them as they pass...enjoy my students - even when I want to beat them with a belt...enjoy my work - even when the paperwork feels overwhelming and enjoy my friends because while I know I will keep in touch with some, many I only had this year with and despite that short time they made an imprint on me and that is worth staying in the moment for.
My love to everyone back home and here. I am grateful for all days past and for this one. Always for this one.
