Grab the tissue box

     One of the BEST books I have ever read, and it took me months to do so!
     I had heard about this story at the end of the school year last year, and I was interested, and I simply added the book to my "Want to Read" list!
     A Carnegie Mellon professor named Randy Pausch is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he basically decides to accept the invitation to be a part of the lecture series known as Last Lecture in which retiring professors give their last lecture. Of course, he shares what is really valuable in his life by giving his Last Lecture (literally and figuratively).
     Then this summer I was teaching a summer class, and a fellow teacher asked me if I had read it and talked to me about it.
     This woman also happened to be my neighbor, and so one day last summer I came home and found the book on my doorstep.
     I didn't start reading it because I had several other books I was reading or that were waiting to be read.
     I took my cheerleaders to camp in Ellensburg at the end of July, and one of my girls was totally upset one day. I asked her what was up, waiting to hear some sort of team drama, when instead she told me that she had read a book a couple months earlier about this inspiring guy, and her mom had called to say he died that day.
     I thought to myself that I had to read the book. When I returned home life was busy with vacations, my horse, moving, and then school started, and cheer was in full swing.
     Well, I just read the book this weekend, and let me tell you it touched my heart! What a story! What a message!
     He connected with me as a parent, as a spouse, as a sibling, as a child, as a teacher, as a student, as a co-worker, and more importantly as a human being.
     I cried and I laughed. And, then today, I watched the video of Randy Pausch's last lecture, and I was equally affected. WOW!
     Here's the link to his website. And, here is a link to watch the video of his last lecture.
     I will definitley be giving this book as a present to many people during this upcoming holiday season.