Make the Most of this Life

I talked to Lauren today for the first time since she's been in Spain - two weeks is a really long time to wait to talk to your best friend... apparently all is well (you can read all about her adventures on her blog here) and she's having the time of her life. I'm glad...and I'm so excited that I finally got to talk to her (it was getting quite lonely back here in the States without my media naranja). This earthquake in Haiti has really brought my own life into sharp perspective - what if that happened here tomorrow? What if I had been there? Would I be ok with the mark I've left on the world so far? I can't even imagine not seeing my family again, not seeing my best friends again, never getting married, never having children, never saving lives...never doing all the things I want to do before I die. My iTunes was on shuffle (as usual, everything in my life relates to music...) and the song "Live Like We're Dying" by Kris Allen came on. I listened - really listened - to the lyrics, and found myself crying. Here they are:

Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up
we're hiding behind skin that's too tough
how come we don't say I love you enough
till it's to late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
we could make a feast from these crumbs
and we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
so if your life flashed before you
what would you wish you would've done

Yeah... gotta start
lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here
this is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
gotta live like we're dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
turn it all around or throw it all away
we gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
while we got the chance to say
gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
who would you call with your last goodbyes
should be so careful who we live out our lives
so when we long for absolution
there'll no one on the line

We never know a good thing till it's gone
you never see a crash until it's head on
all those people right when we're dead wrong
you never know a good thing till it's gone

For more songs with amazing, heartfelt, meaningful lyrics, check out Brett Dennen, especially his songs "Nothing Lasts Forever", "Ain't No Reason", and "There Is So Much More" (I'd post lyrics here, but really, that'd be soooo long....) Seriously though - look him up. ah-maze-ing.

Peace and love,

me :)