Know What Matters

1

Future Back

I learned the most important lesson of my life as my father’s life came to its end. In January 1998, several years after a lung cancer diagnosis, my dad, Joseph Shaich, moved into my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was the best hospital in the country, and having exhausted all other treatment options, we got him enrolled in an experimental clinical trial. This was a last-ditch attempt to extend his life, but it bought him only a brief reprieve. I was his companion through the final year of his life’s journey.

I cannot tell you whether there is a judgment day “up there.” But after watching my father during his last few months, I can tell you this: there is one down here, if we have time ...