What Was Not Thought Upon Awakening

 This morning, like just about every other morning of my entire life, I did not wake up and think to myself: "Self, you are only going to have so many days in which to experience the joys that life has got to offer without having to be pushed around in a wheelchair, or worse."

Nope, didn't say that to myself at all. The only reason I'm thinking it now is due to the short biographical sketch of Brandon deWilde I had written down in one of my sketchbooks several years ago.

And the only reason I was leafing through that sketchbook was to find the phone number for an Ebay seller that I can no longer locate on Ebay.

Before I digress further allow me to try to stay on topic and explain about the short biographical sketch. See, this smart beautiful woman I know who has great taste in movies, once sent me a text one afternoon that stated she was watching the movie Hud, which starred Paul Newman, and elaborated upon how gorgeous she thought Paul Newman was.

I responded to that text by stating that, while Hud was one of Newman's best works, what I always remembered about that film was the young actor Brandon deWilde who had tragically died in a car crash less than twenty years after he acted in that film.

The reason I always remembered Brandon deWilde was due to the fact that the accident that took his life happened on the onramp from Kipling avenue to 6th avenue here in Lakewood, which at the time (of the text) was an onramp I utilized almost every single day, and had been utilizing on almost a daily basis for the past 15 or so years.

Brandon deWilde was only 30 years old at his passing, and had accomplished much in those few years. He acted in almost 500 performances of the Broadway play The Member of the Wedding starting at the age of 7, winning a Donaldson award along the way (as well as a Golden Globe for his performance in the film adaptation), and had been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the movie Shane (he played the hero worshipping character Joey Starrett, at the age of 11). 

His resume before the age of twenty rivaled the careers of actors who had worked in film for decades - he starred in his own television series (Jamie, cancelled due to a contract dispute), and co-starred in films with the likes of Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Jack Palance, James Stewart, Louise Beavers, William Brennan, Sydney Poitier, Audie Murphy, Lee Marvin, Carol Lynley, Marsha Hunt, Warren Beatty, Angela Lansbury...you get the gist, he was quite the prodigy.

To cut this diatribe short, one of the things I wrote on that page in my sketchbook was the Latin phrase "Fac vitam optimam dierum, quos habes, numerator" which translates to "Make the best life of the days you have, for they are numbered" (approximately - not like I'm a Latin scholar you know).

It may not be as succinct as Carpe Diem, but it is a phrase I've always liked for both it's inspirational and ominous warning qualities.

But truth be told, I've never uttered it upon awakening.