Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly

On my bucket list of travel destinations is to see a concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, which was the former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Recently I saw that one of my favorite bands is going to play there New Year's Eve. I thought about it, but making the trip on a long weekend looked tricky and a little pricey. And I decided to wait, and was going to wait, until I read this book. Eugene O’Kelly, then the CEO of the accounting firm KPMG, was diagnosed in 2005, at the age of 53 with late-stage brain cancer. After a brief attempt to fight the cancer with radiation, O’Kelly instead decided to systematically orchestrate just how he would spend his last few months on Earth. He made a list of more than 1000 friends and then contacted all of them to "unwind" their relationships. He wanted to say goodbye to nearly everyone that mattered, in order to spend his remaining days with his family, including his sisters, two daughters and his wife, Corinne. He said goodbye to some people with emails or letters, others with phone calls, and some with in person lunches, dinners, or a shared bottle of good wine. Rather than sadness, most of these encounters brought Gene and his friends great, bitter-sweet joy. While unwinding his relationships, Gene spent the last three months of his life writing this book, which was published after his death with an epilogue by his wife. The book describes many lessons Gene learned in his 53 years and one of the most important ones, he said, is "move it up." If you have something on your list that you are wanting to do, but waiting, move it up. So after I read this book, I hopped on the internet and bought two tickets to see Old Crow Medicine Show at the Ryman Auditorium New Year's Eve. Gene's book was a profoundly moving read, and it inspired me into action and to move my plans up. When I returned this book to the library, I did so with a smile on my face, excited that someone else would check it out soon. To buy this book on Amazon click here.