Embracing the challenges of motherhood

The Last Lecture

Last Christmas, my husband and I decided not to give each other anything spectacular to save up money for Phoebe’s tuition this coming school year. So, a few days before the big day, Phoebe and I marched to the nearest Barnes and Noble to get a copy of the book, my husband has been raving about for the last couple of weeks – the Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. Christian loves to watch lectures, speeches, online lessons on the internet. I don’t. I always think people who “teach” online are a bunch of wannabes who cannot sell their material to any publisher. No one and absolutely no one has ever sparked my interest to sit in front of my laptop and watch someone lecture me about God and the world. I’d rather watch my favorite episode of Glee or even the most annoying season of the Bachelorette. But out of respect, I gave in to my husband’s request and watched a few seconds of the Last Lecture on Youtube. Yes, it was interesting but I still have this notion at the back of my head that this person might just be making this all up. No one will ever know. Even I could give an “outstanding lecture” by memorizing some lines out of a book and posting my video on Youtube. But then, out of boredom, I grabbed the book from our mini library and started to read the first few pages. I smiled here and there and even laughed to my surprise. Then I found myself being hooked. My husband was right – the book is good. It has short chapters (which is a big plus for me) and summarizes in two lines the gist of the entire chapter.

Not Your Typical I’m-Dying-So-Have-Pity-On-Me-Drama

If you are looking for something depressing and full of deathbed drama, you’ll be disappointed with this book. But if you are someone like me who needs a little push to get what you want, then this book is perfect. It is true that there are a gazillion books out there which “teach” us about life lessons but this one’s different – it will make you want to be a better person – more efficient, patient, confident and appreciative.

What do I love most about the book?

The energy of the author, his sincerity and sense of humor. You rarely get all three combined in one writer. The result? One inspiring read.

Walking the Talk

One important lesson I learned after reading the Last Lecture, is that life is too short to complain about anything.  We should enjoy life as it comes and be happy everyday.  I know that trying to be happy every single day is like telling a 2-year old toddler never to throw tantrums in public -  it rarely works.  It’s difficult but we can always try. And that’s what I’ve decided to do – I will be doing a series of blog entries where I share about my own life experiences that relate to what Randy has been telling us through his book. It could be a long and winding journey but I will never reach the goal if I don’t take the first step.

And yes, my husband cheated.  He broke the nothing-spectacular-for Christmas-rule.  He gave me a new laptop and I felt bad for giving him a book which is as small as my notepad.  But after reading the book, it turned out, the book has much more to it than I first thought – it made us rethink our way of living and that’s more valuable than any other gadget.

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