I was in a bit of a panic this past week. For some reason, I was under the impression the Mayan End of the World was due to occur on December 12, 2012 — which would have been—TODAY!
(If you’re reading this, clearly, I was wrong.)
Today! When I’m all alone. No husband, no kids… nobody home but me.
“WOOF, WOOF!”
Well, and Henry… my dog.
I honestly don’t believe in the whole Mayan End of the World thing, but still…you never know. What if it was true?
I don’t want to die alone!!!!!!!
That said, I’m relieved to say the date officially predicted as the end of the world by the Mayan calendar is not, as I had thought, today; but rather, Friday, December 21st. A day in which I will be surrounded by Henry, my husband, my daughter and her boyfriend.
Whoosh! I’m so relieved!
Granted, my son has other plans for that day, but I know he will be in good company…so all is well. (Hummm, maybe I should invite my mom and dad over for coffee?)
Which leads me to another thought: My “To Do” List. Specifically, my “Must Do Before The End of the World” list.
Think about it! Assume, for a second, the end of the world really will be on December 21st… What will be on your “Must Do Before The End of the World” List? I thought about it. And then I thought about all the goals I currently have such as:
- Complete the 60-day Insanity workout program (I want my 6 pack!)
- Write, edit and publish another novel
- Sell home, move to Indiana
- Finish reading Wool 5 – The Stranded, by Hugh Howey and listening to Insurgent by Veronica Roth
And, you know what—none of them made my “Must Do” list. Nope! Because after I thought about it, I realized the only thing I’d absolutely have to do if the world truly was going to end on December 21st was to tell all the people I love; my family, my friends…and yes, even Henry, that I love them. (Although finishing Wool 5 and Insurgent would be nice.)
I know. Sappy! Super Sappy! But it’s true. Like the song says, “All you need is love.”
What’s on your “Must Do Before The End of the World” list?
Up until the end of the 80s I wanted to set foot on Mars before I died. In those days it still seemed possible that there’d be regular traffic between here and there by, say 2061. I think I’ll be lucky if anyone gets there in the next 50 years at this rate. If we’re talking about December 21st then I definitely want to get this final draft of Thumb done and dusted. Then all I need to do is print it out and put it in a sealed metal box so that, hopefully, when the Earth explodes it will get jettisoned into space and eventually deciphered and read by some multi-tentacled methane-breathing entity – a bit like Severian’s book in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.
I completely emphasize with the desire to finish your novel. If I hadn’t finished WHEELS, family or no family, it would have been tops on my list. So much of my life went into writing that book—during so many of the years that my children were growing up—it would have been heart breaking for me to see the world end when my novel was so close to being finished. I don’t have enough sweat and tears, as they say, invested in this next novel to put it on my “Must Do” list. I do, however, see that (putting in the sweat and tears, that is) as one of my goals for the coming year…should our world still be intact!
As for Mars…the huge technological leaps we’ve made in the past twenty years gives me hope that the time is not far off when we will experience the same sort of leaps in the technology needed for long range space travel.
Thanks for your comments, John. I’m looking forward to adding THUMB to my reading goals for 2013!