Bob Scott
A lasting gift.
One of my heroes, my anam ćara, Bob Scott, died recently. He had a rare form of cancer. Bob learned two years before his death that there was no treatment for cure.
Bob chose how he would live those last two years. He knew he could not do it alone. He turned to his faith, his wife and family and friends to help him stay true to the choice he had made.
Bob invited family and friends to walk with him. As long as he was able, he traveled to faraway places (Oklahoma City, Hope, Michigan, Baltimore, Maryland, Georgetown, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts and others) to be with people he loved.
If you were around Bob for any period of time, you talked about deep, intimate matters of the heart and of the mind. He was not shy about sharing his opinions or about asking you about your opinions.
Among Bob’s lasting gifts are the many emails he sent and the discussions prompted by visits and those emails.
In an email sent to family and friends saying he would no longer be receiving treatment for cure, he said that he had resolved to “stay in the present and keep his eyes on Jesus.”
I asked what he meant by “staying in the present.” He replied “I wake up in the morning knowing I am going to die. I go downstairs and am greeted by my granddaughter, with a huge smile on her face and outstretched arms. Which world do I choose to live in?”
“By staying in the present”, Bob meant he lived each day and didn’t permit himself to spoil the day by obsessing on what was coming.
It meant he mostly thought about what he chose to think about, did what he chose to do, spent time with people he wanted to spend time with.
He looked for tools to help him stay present. One of his most powerful tools was gratitude. He filled his thoughts with gratitude—the fact of life itself, Nora, the beauty that surrounded him, birds, flowers, music, grandchildren, friends.
Bob said “God has been so good to me during life, I cannot imagine God being any less good after I die.”
He described death much like a wave coming into shore that melts into the ocean, melts into Jesus.
He said life is like a river flowing steadily and inexorably into the ocean.
As Bob came closer to death, he wrote about the trapeze artist, whose only job is to turn loose. As Bob said, if the trapeze artist tried to catch the catcher, they both might fall.
It is said one can value a tree by the fruit it produces. The last two years of Bob’s life produced lasting, life-giving fruit. An example for us all.