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Remember in 2004 when the media went crazy when professional football player Pat Tillman had been killed in Afghanistan?

He left the NFL, enlisted in the army and had only been in Afghanistan for three weeks.

It was also only a few months away from when Pat was going to marry his girlfriend for over a decade, Marie. 

I was reading a magazine this weekend and came across this article from Tillman's widow where she talks about a letter that Pat had left for her. A "just in case" letter he had written from an earlier deployment to Iraq.

They never really talked about the weirdness of opening it, so it just sat on the dresser. 

"through the years, I've asked a great deal of you, therefor it should surprise you little that I have another favor to ask.

 I ask that you live.

Pat's last letter to me now is safely tucked away in a shoebox in the home I share with my husband, Joe, whom I married last year. I also met him through work, an while the conversation on our first date ranged from pop culture to the minutiae of our lives, we were communicating something very different. We had both weathered our share of disappointment and loss, but we remained open to life. 

I didn't know where that evening with a kind interesting man would lead, but that night proved I had not been broken.

I could travel alone, make decisions alone and kick myself out of a funk. I could contribute to the world.

I think that's what Pat meant when he asked me to live-not only to have fun but to understand that there is a weight to life, and he didn't want me to be frivolous with mine. 

it is a tragedy that Pat's life ended too soon.

But it's also a tragedy to live a long life that isn't meaningful. 

A life should have depth, which means pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. It has taken years, but I am at that point now. I am truly and deeply living."

i think that's not only what Pat wants us to do, but the families and loved ones of all the people who have lost their chance to live, in order to give us one. 

we should probably make sure that it counts. :)