Am I the only person on the planet that didn't know Richard Carlson, the author of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff books, died in 2006? (Suddenly, at age 43, of a pulmonary embolism.)
I just had no idea . . . until I opened a surprise Easter Basket (for me) from Dave. In it, he gave me a book co-authored by the Carlsons--Richard and Kristine. If I understand correctly, it was published at the request of many people, asking her to share a love letter her husband had written to her three years before his passing.
Talk about heavy? Sheesh! It's called An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love, and it's really profound. Clearly, the title is even more poignant given that it shares a letter Richard Carlson wrote to his wife, answering the questions "If I had an hour to live, here's what I'd say/do." For no particular reason, he took inventory of his life and wrote this heart-felt letter to his wife for their 18th wedding anniversary.
If you have 20 minutes, I really recommend the book. It's divided into two parts: 1) the letter from Richard to his wife, and 2) her response to his letter--and his passing.
It's motivational--to say the very least. And reminded me of things I know, but don't always do.
At the end, Kristine Carlson recommends you write your own response to the question: "If you had one hour to live and could make just one phone call, who would it be to, what would you say, and why are your waiting?"
After reading the book, I felt like I should do more than say, "wow, that's ironic/incredible he wrote that letter and then passed away."
I think I'm going to try and answer the question myself.
I just had no idea . . . until I opened a surprise Easter Basket (for me) from Dave. In it, he gave me a book co-authored by the Carlsons--Richard and Kristine. If I understand correctly, it was published at the request of many people, asking her to share a love letter her husband had written to her three years before his passing.
Talk about heavy? Sheesh! It's called An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love, and it's really profound. Clearly, the title is even more poignant given that it shares a letter Richard Carlson wrote to his wife, answering the questions "If I had an hour to live, here's what I'd say/do." For no particular reason, he took inventory of his life and wrote this heart-felt letter to his wife for their 18th wedding anniversary.
If you have 20 minutes, I really recommend the book. It's divided into two parts: 1) the letter from Richard to his wife, and 2) her response to his letter--and his passing.
It's motivational--to say the very least. And reminded me of things I know, but don't always do.
At the end, Kristine Carlson recommends you write your own response to the question: "If you had one hour to live and could make just one phone call, who would it be to, what would you say, and why are your waiting?"
After reading the book, I felt like I should do more than say, "wow, that's ironic/incredible he wrote that letter and then passed away."
I think I'm going to try and answer the question myself.
On a lighter note, here are mas fotos of Easter. Hope everyone had a great day! We missed family, but did have a great day at church and then dinner with our fam and friends. We are so glad to live in the neighborhood we do--so many nice people. Friends we cherish.
Resurrection Rolls (recipe posted).
Egg hunt booty--hard-boiled eggs. Yay.
Kindra's cupcakes. They were picture-perfect. (The grass is colored green, people!)
Jonah-the-teenage-hero: Makes a literal train out of the bike trailer. There's the bike trailer to seat two kids, the lawn chair strapped to the back to hold one more kid, and the tricycle at the end to tow one more. That train holds 4 kids--and Jonah spent all Sunday giving rides on it. How amazing is that? I don't know too many 13 year-olds that would do that. Jonah, where did you come from? You are such a great kid.
Little People Missionaries--they crack me up. Mormon toys. It's a riot.
Girls get sandals from EB (Easter Bunny).
Paigey got sandals, too.
Making Resurrection Rolls.
Marshmallows are hidden inside, they melt during baking.
Jonah was not too excited about dying eggs this year. Been there, done that. He did do one though.
4:30am on Easter morning. Not joking. (Notice, Jonah's absent.)
Shocked by EB's generosity.
Easter baskets.
More Easter baskets.
Egg coloring. That's dye yanno? As in "stains."
Maybe we get to skip braces? Lucky!
Huevos.
Basket inventory.
4:37 am. Still no Jonah. LOL.