Lately, I have been talking to God a lot about direction,
purpose and the future. I have also spent a lot of time whining about things
that are probably not significant enough to whine about more than once…but I
do.
It was during my lunch break…surfing the internet (avoiding
doing class work or anything productive) that I came across an article about a little
girl named Avery. I think it was the fact that this baby’s headline had
something to do with a bucket list that I paused to read the article.
Avery had spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) from birth and was estimated
to only have 18 months to live. Her parents are the rare and amazing type of people
that take a devastating and paralyzing situation and turn it into something
magical. They decided to work on Avery’s bucket list while she was alive and
they would be sure to help her cross off as much as possible. They also created
a blog written from Avery’s perspective so that they could share milestones with
family and friends and spread awareness about SMA at the same time. Not only is
Avery’s blog sweet and funny but Miss Avery has crossed more off of her bucket
list than most adults ever will.
The quote that struck me while I read through her blog was, “You
can live life dying or you can die living life”. Okay God…I’m listening…that
makes sense. But it’s more than that…it’s so easy to save inspirational quotes,
to pin them to your walls and to wear them on your clothes…but when do we start
living them? When does the way we “want” to live, become the way that we start
living?
Avery passed away yesterday afternoon and while she leaves
behind devastated family, friends and admirers… she also leaves behind a legacy
of awareness and love at just 5 months old.
How are you living life today? 
Elyse
