The time of my life

I turned 24 years old in Japan.

The year was 1994 and I was in Japan for a three week visit.  I wasn’t in Tokyo. I was on the outskirts of a large city on Kyushu, the southernmost of the major islands that make up Japan.  Because it was so far from Tokyo there were very few foreigners around and the area wasn’t heavily westernized.  It was an absolutely amazing trip, fully of incredible experiences, sights, sounds and tastes.  But perhaps the sight that I really wasn’t expecting - the one that took my completely by surprise - was the sight of my life actually flashing before my eyes!

Let me explain.

One day, a few days before my birthday, I went to a local science centre.  There were the usual assortment of interactive and informative science centre displays.  But then there was the timer.

I remember it being very large, with red LED digital numbers like an old alarm clock-radio.  Something like this:

Except the one at the science centre had numeral categories for:

• Years

• Months  

• Days

• Hours

• Minutes

• and Seconds

And it was counting down.  Like something a Bond villain would have in their evil lair. 

Like I said, it was 1994.  This timer was counting down to the end of the millennium. 

The fear around the “Y2K bug” wouldn’t set it for many years and no one was really talking or thinking about the end of the century / end of the millennium, yet here was this giant red display - counting down the seconds as a sort of curiosity.

I stood and looked at that giant red display for a very, very long time.

Because I realized it was also counting down the seconds of my life.  I was literally watching my life disappear before my eyes.

In 1988, at the age of 18, I’d been told by a team of top cardiologists that because of my rare heart construction, they hoped I’d live long enough to see my 30th birthday.  

Since I would turn 30 in the year 2000, this display was a fairly accurate representation of my remaining time on earth.

What does one do when faced with that visual information?

What would YOU do?

I remember being grateful I saw this while on vacation halfway around the world, chasing down what the poets call “the marrow of life”.  

Today, as I share this story with you, I’m using it as a reminder to myself to keep chasing that marrow.  Because somewhere - there’s another unseen timer still counting down.