I hadn’t heard of Randy Pausch until this week. Tonight I watched his one hour, sixteen minute talk entitled, “The Last Lecture” which he gave at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007. In it, he talks about his childhood dreams, how he lived them out…and how to help others achieve their dreams.

The part of the story that hits me hardest is the fact that Randy knew he only had a few months left to live when he stood before that crowd. I wonder if I only had a few months to live, and knew it, what I would do differently. What would you do differently?

I appreciate Randy’s honesty, his humor and his ability to beautifully share such a remarkable story. Randy died a little less than a month ago, leaving behind his legacy in this story.

I’m thankful for stories like this that remind me to take a hard look at my life and reflect on what I want to do with my time while I have the health, energy and strength to do it. I appreciate stories like Randy’s that ask us what we want our legacy to be…and how it is we want to create it.

It also reminds me that our time is limited and if we’re going to do it we must do it now.