Eh, fuck it, 9's my lucky number so might as well hope this turns into something worthwhile. Next Tuesday, August 9th is 9 years since I woke up from a brain tumor surgery that was supposed to kill me. I've talked about it a lot on here and if you need the intimate details just PM me because I don't wanna muck up the thread.... at any rate, this was the first song I wanted to hear when I woke up. Spoiler: spoiler: cliche as all hell Long story short, the whole experience turned me into an atheist real quick, and a thrill-seeker even faster. Unfortunately, since my body was half-retarded thanks to the surgery, I still had to teach myself basic motor skills before I could actually seek any thrills. I had to re-learn how to press the gas pedal before I could hit 170 mph on the highway....My balance was shot so I just crouched in the basket of a hot air balloon... That Barrett M82 hurt a little, but it was worth it I think... I had to re-learn how to move my hand to my face before I could take all those drugs... Brain surgery does hell on your senses, and it was a while before I re-discovered my taste for alcohol enough to become an alcoholic. Yeah, I'm better now, but damnit those days were fun! Tumor went to mayo clinic, and if it was malignant, I was terminally ill and basically going to die soon. Fortunately it was benign so I'm still here. But I basically had a month and a half long "Get out of jail free" card. And for a month and a half, I had a hell of a lot of fucking fun. Focus: Yourself in my shoes. You have a month and a half to live. The money in your bank will support you (within reason). What do you want to do and why?
If I'm, without a doubt, terminally ill and not going to live long enough to endure much of a prison sentence, I'm stealing a Gunboat 66. I'll disconnect all GPS and AIS devices, anything else that might give away my position, and I'm crossing whatever ocean it is located on. Or, at least attempting to cross. I won't get much of a head start before it is missed and reported. It's fast, but not that fast, certainly won't outrun a helicopter. The search radius will be small, initially, 100 miles at most. Actually, that's what I would have done a few years ago. Now, I'd spend the time making sure my son knows I love him and teaching him something, anything.
It's stupid and cheesy I suppose but as many memories as I can make with my kids and family I'd make. Touching oceans, and the sky, and traveling, and the like. Joey Feek did so much for her family when she was dying with cancer, I would hope to be half as strong.
I suppose this would change if I had kids but until then, after saying goodbye to family and friends I'll pack a canoe with enough food, fishing supplies, and ammunition for a month and see how far I could go into the Boundary Waters. Eventually you'd find me under a big white pine tree with a nice view overlooking a lake. It's the place where some of my favorite memories are from and where I feel the most at peace and calm in the world, and that's how I'd like to end it.
I find that the older I get, the less I like contemplating these sorts of scenarios. Seeing as my wife and kid would need the money in the bank, maybe five weeks of spending as much time with them as I could, then one day in a garage with the car running, a nice cigar, and a bottle of bourbon.
Focus: Spend the rest of my days on a yacht floating around the Med with my favorite people. Why? It's the most relaxing thing I can think of, and it's gorgeous. I'd get fat and fabulous.