Sometimes a song arrives at the perfect moment.

The first time I heard “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, I wasn’t struck by thoughts of death. I found myself thinking about life… rather, how we spend it, who we spend it with, and whether we are truly awake to the extraordinary gift of simply being here.

That reaction perhaps isn’t surprising. As many of you know, death and I have been acquainted for a very long time. It took my father when I was eleven. Since then, it has remained a quiet companion through years of hospice volunteering, through friends and neighbors facing diagnoses no one ever imagines receiving, and through countless moments of witnessing unimaginable heartbreak and remarkable grace. Along the way, it has taught me one of life’s greatest lessons: the greatest tragedy isn’t that we die; it’s that so many of us postpone living until we’re reminded that we will.

Along the journey, I realized the opposite of death isn’t life at all. It is disconnection. It is believing there will always be another conversation, another anniversary, another chance to mend what has been broken, another ordinary Tuesday to say the words we keep telling ourselves can wait.

That realization has quietly reshaped how I move through the world, both literally and figuratively. It has made me want to show up more fully—for my husband, my family, my friends, and even complete strangers whose paths briefly cross mine. Not because I have mastered life, but because I have learned how fragile and beautifully temporary it truly is.

Grief, as painful as it has been, has also been one of my greatest teachers. It has taught me to stop postponing joy…to linger a little longer at the dinner table, to embrace people as though I truly mean it, to board the plane, to ask the deeper question, to protect my peace without apology, and, above all, to pay attention. The ordinary moments we so often rush through eventually become the ones we miss most.

One day, my story will end, as every story does. When that day arrives, I hope the smile on my face won’t come from a life that was easy or untouched by sorrow. I hope it comes from knowing I loved generously, stayed curious, forgave often, chose connection over convenience, and remembered…again and again…to truly live before I died.

Go listen to this beautiful song; I hope it leaves you reflecting as it did me, and let it become more than a melody.

I task you to call the person you’ve been meaning to call, take the trip you’ve been postponing, have the difficult conversation, and tell people what they’ve meant to your life while they’re still here to hear it. I have chosen wonder over worry, presence over distraction, and love over fear. Life has a way of convincing many of us that we have more time than we do.

Today is the perfect day to stop waiting. Go live your life, do so deeply and deliberately, while you still can. I know I am.