Grace

[Posted by reader_iam]

Elizabeth Edwards' words of wisdom. Among them:

"... I'm going to build paths through these woods so we can take long walks that I intended to take when I was 80. And I have a 6-year-old son. I was going to hold his children someday. Now I'm thinking I have only a slim chance of seeing him graduate high school. How do I accomplish, in what time I've got left, all that I'm meant to do? I'm writing a letter to my kids. It gives them something to hold on to and because you've got to butt yourself into their lives even after you're gone."

"We just assume we'll be able to do something next year or 10 years from now. ... And we all put it off. And one of the things that Wade's death taught us is that we can control what we do during the day, during each day. Other than that, we really can't control very much. ... "

"... I talk about it in the book, that I had to accept that my God was a God who promised enlightenment and salvation. And that's all. Didn't promise us protection. ..."

"Words don't bother me. If John had pulled out of the race, they would have said, "Oh, he was failing in this race and this was just an excuse to get out." This is a no-win situation with those folks, and you just have to accept it. But what you hate is that other people might listen and say, "Oh, that's right, it's our job to tell them what is right." There's going to be a day before each of us die, and you have to think a little bit about how you want that day filled. Maybe when you're doing that judging thing, think about how you want the day before you die to look. I want that to be a productive day about which I am enormously proud, as opposed to a day where I had the covers pulled up over my head. That's unbelievably important to me. And if somebody is judging me, and doesn't hear me say that, maybe it's partly my fault for not saying it clearly and maybe it's their fault for not thinking about it."

Think about it.