While I Have The Time

Fallen Messiah: Tim, Why Have You Forsaken Us, Nick Lachance

The number of calls I made to my best friend in British Columbia this summer almost made me broke. Long-distance is expensive and I don’t have a good phone plan. Here’s the thing though:

Everything. Everyone. Everywhere. Ends.

I won’t take credit for that line; it was the tagline for the fifth and final season of Six Feet Under, my favourite show of all time. It takes place in a family-run funeral home and tells the stories of the deceased, their families and friends, and the family who runs the home. Death is a theme that no episode goes without discussing. I’ve been so fortunate in my life; none of my close family members or friends have died, so what I’ve learned about death comes mostly from a television show… then again, it’s not TV, it’s HBO.

So what has this brilliant show taught me? Everyone has an expiry date. Most days I feel pretty invincible, but Six Feet Under has reminded me to keep my ego in check. Death is one of the few universal truths out there; we can’t run away from it or put it off (really), so all we have is now. It sounds so cheesy and cliché, but it’s the truth.

I have a limited amount of time.

So how does that translate?

It means that I don’t care about that total on my phone bill. It means that when I feel a random urge to e-mail my Dad just to tell him I love him, I will. It means that when my best friend, who’s so close to me he’s like a brother, calls me and wants to go out and get hammered and dance, I’ll do it – even if it means skipping a night of studying. And it means I’m going to tell my girlfriend how much I feel for her even if it seems “too soon”, because right now…

I have the time.