Saying "Goodbye"...

The last few weeks have offered a lot of time for reflecting on what is important in life. As many of you know, my wife Julie and I do not get to spend a lot of time together. With her living in Washington, DC and me living in the State of Washington we must make the most of our time together. One thing that we have done is use "countdowns" to keep track of how long it is until the next milestone. Some of our countdowns have been "to the next hug" or "to when we get to live together."

The most recent countdown though was one we were not looking forward to. It was the countdown to the final goodbye. We both knew it was coming. No matter how much we tried to take in every moment of our final weekend together, the inevitable always lingered. Our final hug for 9 months was in the middle of Ronald Reagan National Airport. It was hardly a private moment, but to us it was. There were thousands of people there as we touched, smelled, looked...took in all the senses of each other for the last time for a long time.

Never in my life has "see ya later" been so difficult. We always want more time, but never can you have all the time you really want.

 I went back to one of my favorite speeches of all time to remember just what is important in life, and how to make the most of every single day I get. Jim Valvano, the former basketball coach at North Carolina State delivered a very moving speech back in 1993 and it reminded me just how important the 3 things below really are. Jimmy V said if we can do each of these things every day, we will have a happy life. I tend to agree with him.

1. LAUGH--Whether it's YouTube, or playing with your child, or a joke with a loved one...Laughing every day is one of the greatest gives you can give your spirit.

2. CRY--As a soldier I like to tell myself that I'm tough. I like to think I can handle any situation and believe that nothing can phase me. But before I'm a soldier I'm a human being. It's part of my nature to be emotional. Without that release we're stuck in a state of emotional denial. As crazy as it sounds a good cry can actually make you feel better.

3. THINK ABOUT SOMEONE YOU LOVE--You never know how much you love someone until you can't tell them anymore. In the final days before she died, I regretted not telling this to my grandmother enough. I made sure I would never make this mistake again. The greatest power that we have as human's is our ability to love. It's not enough just to say "I love you" but you have to mean it; So that when you are not able to tell that to them in person, when they think of you they can still feel that love. I know I won't be able to tell Julie "I love you" every night, but it is my hope that she will feel that love, because we have worked so hard to communicate our love to each other.

Here is the video of Jim Valvano's speech at ESPN's ESPY Awards in 1993--I promise if you have never seen it, you will be moved.

Until next time...

Chris