Don't wait 'til you're dead

My wife would say I over think the things that that don't need to be over thought, and I don't think about the things that the everyone else would give careful thought to. 

Here are a few examples of things that we get a chance to think about in our life time.

Go Sky Diving

Pick up transients along the interstate. 

Eat out at a restaurant. 

Let a homeless person live in your garage.

Leave your family for an Earthquake ridden country for 3 weeks.

Invite your neighbors over for dinner.

Get Starbucks (or local coffee) everyday.

Take off work to help a friend.

Watch Netflix

Donate an organ.

Message a friend.

Write a facebook post.

Shovel your neighbors walk.

Scroll Facebook.

Call a friend.

Tell someone you love them.

Some of these may sound a little ridiculous but they are all options of things we do or could do in our lifetime. Some of these things we do everyday without thinking about it, like getting your coffee or scrolling facebook. Somethings you may never do like leave your family to go to an earthquake ridden country or go sky diving. Then there are the things you may have never known you could do like give someone an organ. 

Now this is where my over thinking and not giving careful thought get mixed up. A year ago today I willingly let a doctor cut my abdomen open, shove his hand in my body, and take out my perfectly healthy left kidney. 

Five months earlier I didn't know anything about organ donation.  I just happened to be scrolling Facebook and I saw a post from a friend that just broke my heart. It was a desperate cry for help. So I messaged him and we started to talk about life. He mentioned how his dad had kidney failure. He had been on dialysis for 4 years and was in desperate need of a kidney. 

This is really all I needed to hear. I new exactly why I had messaged him. I didn't over think it, I just knew that I was about to do something incredible. So I asked him what I needed to do to be on the donor list. As the next five months went by and the test results kept coming back as a match I knew this was exactly why I don't over think things that sound crazy to others. 

Over the last year I don't feel like I have done a good job of advocating for organ donation, maybe it's the over think the wrong thing side of me. I want to do a better job of this. 

I just have to continue to remind myself that there is a man now that gets to spend time with his children and grandchildren. A man that now gets to live a full and healthy life. All because I didn't over think it. 

My hope is that you read this and feel inspired. I hope you don't overthink some of the crazy things that life throws in your path.  I hope that you give live organ donation a thought; now that you know its not just something you have to wait to do when you're dead.