Gone Tomorrow

"Where are we going, what are we doing?

Is this the life that we have chosen?

When will we know, what will we have to show,

If we are gone tomorrow?"

- "Open Windows" by The Good Lovelies

The Good Lovelies have a new album out - Burn the Plan - which was my birthday present to myself!  And it was this song that struck me as particularly special on my drive home tonight, on the close of my 24th birthday.

If I was gone tomorrow, what would I have to show?  What do I want my life to leave behind?  Maybe these are slightly, ah, morbid reflections for a birthday.  But in one way, it's the start of another year of my life; a mid-summer New Year's if you will, and therefore an arguably appropriate (good?) time for such thoughts.

So: What do I want my life to show, if I were gone tomorrow?

I want to leave the world and the people in it who are a part of my life fuller when my song is through.  

I want to help people know their own worth, to cherish it in them, and help them treasure it themselves.  

I want to inspire people to see all of the beautiful parts of our miraculous existence and to find the beauty in the parts where it isn't so obvious.  

I want to have approached my life choices confidently, and also carefully, knowing that they were the best for me and those I care most deeply about.  

I want to leave behind my love song for life and have the melody linger on in the hearts of my family and friends.