The End of the World

Ten days. There are only 10 whole days until the end of the world. Have you finished your “end of the world” shopping yet?  Have you sent your “end of the world” cards, too?

The end of time, 12/21/12,  is also my 45th birthday. If the Mayans are right, I’m going to have the mother of all mid-life crises.

I guess to have a proper midlife crisis, I should go out and buy a red Corvette convertible on the 20th and put it on my credit card. I mean if the world is ending, I don’t have to worry about paying it off. I could be like Congress and just go drive it off a cliff.

But it’s not the first time I thought my world was ending. In fact, I have already thought it on Dec. 21st.   That was 12/21/1988 — the day I turned 21. Let’s just say it was a memorable day. Libyan terrorists bombed and brought down a Pan Am 747 over Scotland.  And my girlfriend unceremoniously dumped me.  Talk about giving me a reason to drink legally.  I thought it was the end of the world that day.

It wasn’t. Trust me.

April 17, 2001 was another day I thought was the end of the world.  That was the day I was diagnosed with cancer.  My world changed but it didn’t end.

It just got better.

I thought the world ended on November 3, 2010, too. That was the day I was made part-time.  But it didn’t end.

Instead, it opened up new opportunities.

A few days ago I was let go from SuperTalk.  I knew the world didn’t end that day, either.

It just changed.

And that’s the thing.  All those times I thought that the world ended, It didn’t —  it  was just different.  And different isn’t exactly a bad thing.

I’m betting the farm that you’ll be reading marshallramsey.com on Dec. 22. Someone asked me if I planned on stocking up at Sams for the end of time.  I kindly said, “Um, if it is the end of the world, we won’t need a 50-gallon barrel of syrup. It will be THE END OF THE WORLD.”

What I plan on Mayan Day is shipping books, drinking a toast to 45 fine years on this planet and saying thanks for all the change in my life.

Because change isn’t the end of the world. It’s the catalyst for a better world.

Our world could end in ten days. Or in ten minutes. We have been given the gift of not knowing. I’m just going to make the best of it until that moment comes.  I know you will, too.