1440 Minutes

What’s in a day? For starters, one thousand four hundred and forty minutes, which sounds like a lot but in the end, is never enough. February 16^th, 2013 was no ordinary day and those 1440 minutes dramatically changed the landscape of many lives. What do I remember about those 1440 minutes? I remember the sounds of Trouper telling me he felt like he was drowning and I remember the nurse who told me if I couldn’t hold myself together I had to leave. I remember Trouper mouthing “I’m sorry and I love you” and I remember old Dr. Blincoe whose glasses always seemed to be at the end of his nose, which I despised at first but came to love as the years rolled by. I remember sitting on the floor of a hallway for what seemed like days, the same floor I would sit on the morning I said goodbye. I remember the faces of friends and family who rushed to be by our side; the look on TJ’s face as he said “Dara, I don’t think I can do this” and the sound of my Mom and Sister’s voices as they hugged me and said “don’t worry, we’re here”. What I remember most was bargaining with God. I know you’re not ever supposed to do that but I didn’t ask for much, just another 1440 minutes. God was listening and he gave us not only 1440 minutes, he gave us 1,802,880 minutes (3 years, 5 months and 2 days). I’m beyond grateful for every minute we were granted and while I would change a few things, for the most part I’m satisfied about the way our family, especially our Super Trouper, chose to live those minutes. He filled them with love, gratefulness, forgiveness, faith, reflection and hope. But, as the 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us, the greatest of these was love. He gave and received love from all over the world, from people he’d never met, from people he hadn’t heard from in 30 years and from people who lived in the same house. So on the anniversary of the 1440 minutes that changed my life forever, I want to ask you for something. As my Mom said earlier today, live like Trouper. Not only live but love like Trouper. Even when he was at his worst, he still managed to let everyone know how he felt about them. Above all else, that was his greatest accomplishment in this life. He once said the love you give is the love you receive and that was a running theme in his life. He gave love and got love, and in the end, that love has carried me through the past 267840 minutes since I said “see ya soon”. Just remember, if you’re thinking about someone, let them know. If someone has hurt you in the past, forgive them and move on and if you love someone, don’t forget to say it, shout it, show it and mean it because this could be the last 1440 minutes you ever have with them. And this my friends, is what love looks like.......