THIRTEEN
THE GIFT OF A
DAY
Life at its essence boils down
to one day at a time.
Today is the day!
to one day at a time.
Today is the day!
As we entered the
eleventh month of Jason Stevens’ pursuit of the ultimate gift, I
realized that during this month we would pass the one-year
anniversary of Red Stevens’ death. My thoughts were often of my
longtime friend and companion.
Red Stevens and I had
come from two totally different worlds, and outwardly we had seemed
to have very little in common. But somewhere, we had found a point
of common ground between us that enabled us both to develop and
nurture a friendship through five decades.
I will always
remember Red Stevens as being bigger than life. While I felt
comfortable in the confines of my office in Back Bay Boston, Red
Stevens always seemed at home in Texas. Somehow, it seemed to fit
him. It takes a place like Texas to build men like Red
Stevens.
I had heard it said
before that no one is ever alone if he or she has just one friend.
I came to believe that no one could be alone if he or she ever had
a friend like Red Stevens. I knew he would always be with me. I
felt pride and responsibility that he had selected me to accompany
Jason through each step of the journey toward the ultimate gift Red
had planned for him.
These thoughts were
in my mind when Jason Stevens arrived, and we settled into those
familiar places in our law firm’s conference room. Right on cue,
Red Stevens came to us once again via the videotape and the large
screen at the end of the room.
He smiled and boomed,
“Congratulations, Jason. Since I am talking to you today, I know
that Mr. Hamilton approved of your handling of the gift of
gratitude last month.
“Jason, I want you to
know that as I was contemplating the ultimate gift I wanted to
present you through my will, I spent a lot of time thinking about
you. I think you gained a permanent place in my Golden List each
morning. I am thankful that you and I share a family heritage, and
I sense a spark in you that I have always felt in myself. We are
somehow kindred spirits beyond just our family ties.”
Out of the corner of
my eye, I could see Jason nodding his head as Red
spoke.
Red continued. “As I
have been going through the process of creating my will and
thinking about my life and my death, I have considered all of the
elements in my life that have made it special. I have reviewed many
memories, and I carry them with me like a treasure.
“When you face your
own mortality, you contemplate how much of life you have lived
versus how much you have left. It is like the sand slipping through
an hourglass. I know that at some point I will live the last day of
my life. I have been thinking about how I would want to live that
day or what I would do if I had just one day left to live. I have
come to realize that if I can get that picture in my mind of
maximizing one day, I will have mastered the essence of living,
because life is nothing more than a series of days. If we can learn
how to live one day to its fullest, our lives will be rich and
meaningful.
“Jason, during the
next thirty days, I want you to plan how you would live the last
day of your life. And at the end of the month, I want you to give
the details to Mr. Hamilton. I think you will discover how much
life can be packed into one simple day, and then I hope you will
discover the same thing I have discovered. Why should we wait until
the last day of our lives to begin living the maximum
day?
“You have all of the
tools and elements you will need to design this last day for
yourself. I wish you well today and every day of the rest of your
life.”
Red Stevens vanished
from the screen.
Jason let out a deep
sigh and said, “You know, I’ve never really thought about dying or
the last day of my life.”
I smiled and
responded, “When I was your age, I didn’t think about it much,
either, but I think what your great-uncle is trying to teach you is
that there is a lot to be gained by thinking through the process;
and I believe the younger you are when you learn this lesson, the
more quality you will have in your life.”
Jason and I rose and
shook hands, and he left to go about his month of discovery in the
realm of the gift of a day.
Unlike Jason, I had,
indeed, thought quite a bit about how I might spend the last day of
my life, and all of the things I would want to pack into that one
twenty-four-hour period. These thoughts were much on my mind
throughout the entire month.
At the end of the
month, Jason Stevens entered my office with the demeanor and
carriage of a man on a mission. He sat down in one of my client
chairs, and Miss Hastings took the other.
“Jason, it is
wonderful to see you again,” I said, “and I hope the month has been
fruitful for you.”
“It has been great,”
Jason blurted out excitedly, “but I’m not sure a day is long enough
to cram in all the things I would want to do before I die. What I
found to be amazing is the fact that the things I would most want
to accomplish on the last day of my life are really simple and
ordinary things.
“When I first started
thinking about the process, I thought I would want to climb a great
mountain or create some wonderful art or something. But after much
thought, I have come to realize that my perfect day would be filled
with the best of simple things.”
Jason paused and
looked at both Miss Hastings and me. He reached into his jacket
pocket and drew out a single sheet of paper. He glanced at his
notes and began again.
“Well, on the last
day of my life, I would like to wake up early in the morning—there
is certainly no time to waste. Before even getting out of bed, I
would go through all of the things I am grateful for and create my
mental Golden List. But unlike the list we talked about last month
with ten things, I think on the last day of my life I would have to
add many more things to the list for which I am
thankful.
“I would like to have
an early breakfast outdoors on a patio or balcony with a group of
very special friends. I would tell them how much they mean to me,
and I would want to give them each a gift that would be the recipe
for getting the most out of their days and, therefore, their entire
lives.
“After breakfast, I
would want to call a number of people who have been special to
me—people like Gus Caldwell in Texas, the people at the Red Stevens
Library in South America, all of the boys at the home up in Maine,
and many others. I would also want to call all of my relatives and
other people with whom I have not had a good relationship. I would
want to tell each of them I am sorry for whatever has gone wrong
between us, and I would want to ask them to do what I am doing,
which is simply hold on to all the good memories and release all
the bad ones.
“For lunch, I would
like to take my friend Brian to his favorite restaurant and buy him
anything he wanted. I would ask him to share with me the dreams he
has for his life.
“During the
afternoon, I would like to enjoy some of the simple pleasures,
including a walk in the park—hopefully with the little girl named
Emily I met earlier this year—followed by a trip to the art museum
and a brief outing on a sailboat around Boston Harbor.
“Then, in the
evening, I would like to have a special banquet for all of my
friends and their friends, and I certainly would want both of you
there. At the end of the banquet, I would like to step up on a
platform and share with everyone the gifts that my great-uncle, Red
Stevens, left to me. I would want to have it videotaped so that my
dream of sharing this wonderful gift with other young people like
me could go on after I died.”
Jason glanced up at
Miss Hastings and me, and then back down to his sheet of paper.
After several moments, he folded the paper and put it back into his
jacket pocket. “Well, there are many other things I thought of to
do, and they’re all good,” he said, “but those are the ones I
thought I could fit into my last day.”
I smiled and
responded, “Jason, I can’t think of any better way to spend one’s
last day. I think we can all agree that you have come to a
wonderful understanding of what your Uncle Red had in mind in the
gift of a day.”
Jason stood and shook
my hand warmly and actually gave Miss Hastings a brief hug. As she
escorted him to the elevator, I couldn’t help but remember the
sullen, angry young man who had come into my office just one year
earlier. I knew that Red Stevens was smiling down on
us.