“Ok, then,” he whispered. These were thought to be Morrie’s last words as he lay there lifelessly waiting to end his course in life. There was a developed cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease in September. It was now a cold December. As Connie and Charlotte mourned his supposedly death, I, however, did not. I found the piece of paper in my left pocket that contained scrawled numbers. The numbers were legible and by dialing I knew this number would connect me to the pharmacy that had a cure. I dialed the numbers frantically, as thoughts ran through my mind like a speeding bullet. I began to perspire.
The line at the other end crackled and came to life “Hello, this is Barrys assistant. ” “Hi, this is Mitch, I was wondering if you could transfer me to Barry. ” I said hopefully. I began explaining how I would like to obtain the cure for my ex professor and friend. The line suddenly shut off. I had no idea if they had the cure or not but I knew it was worth finding out. I ran as if I were in a marathon. I sat down and jammed the keys into the ignition and sped down the road. The pharmacy was five minutes away from Morrie’s house. I was in luck. I pulled into the parking lot and found the nearest spot to park.
I parked as fast as I possibly could and ran to the pharmacy counter. “Is Barry available? ” I said breathlessly. Now I knew how Morrie felt when he tried to breathe. The person at the desk went back to try to find Barry but he wasn’t available. I felt hopeless. It made me believe that I could be the cause of Morries death because I didn’t do anything to stop the disease from continuing to take a toll on his body. I ran through every red light and swerved through people. No one seemed to care and neither did the police. I reached Morries house and killed the engine. I walked inside with my head hung low.
I walked into Morries bedroom to find Barry administering the medication into Morries arm. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like I was in a dream. So many questions flooded by mind and so do what ifs. “Good day Mitch, I’m sorry if I gave you quite a scare. Morrie did inform you that he obliged and let me administer the cure of this disease to him…right? ” I shook my head to answer no. I was so awestruck that I couldn’t even form words not even the slightest sound. “Morrie didn’t actually die this medication makes him tired. ” Barry continued. After all this time I looked for a cure it was right under my eyes.
The president had ordered it from South Africa. I was so bummed about losing my job that I didn’t bother to watch the news. Every other day Barry would come into administer the medicine every day twice a day. Once dose at dawn and in the early hours of the evening. I did research on the medication. The website stated that it would take the medicine three years depending on the severity of the case of the person’s disease to rid the body of it. Why had Morrie hid this from me. I pondered this subject. Barry took me aside and explained that Morrie would need to go to Physical Therapy to regain his strength and to build up his muscles again.
Morrie would also have to learn how to walk and move his lower part of his body again. It would be a grueling process but nothing Morrie couldn’t do without help from friends, family, and his doctors that deeply cared for him. Morries condition was getting better. His ailment was going away faster than the doctors had expected. He would be the first man to be cured from this disease as well as many others that followed. As soon as I heard of this news I moved back to West Newton, Massachusetts with my wife Janine.
It was a Tuesday morning in February when I finally could have a real sensible conversation with Morrie. We caught up for hours. He was beginning to be his old self which I had remembered from sixteen years earlier. On that morning we decided to go teach sociology at Brandeis together which would be held every Tuesday and Thursday. Morrie was delighted with the idea of teaching with one of his former students that he had grown so fond to. It was a warm special Tuesday morning for two reasons. Today my wife and I found out that we would be expecting twins.
The other reason being it marked a landmark it was the tenth year anniversary of Morrie and I teaching sociology together. Morrie was cured from the disease but his age was catching up to him he was ninety nine almost one hundred. As the months rolled past we saw our children on the monitor for the very last time until we could actually meet them. We took Morrie with us and we pronounced him as the godfather of our children. The day came to finally deliver our children and once we did Morrie danced and jumped around. This was the first time I had seen him do this in more than twenty years.
Then tragedy struck…. as much as I did everything to keep Morrie alive he was dying and I couldn’t accept it. Once one soul dies another is born. I taught one last class with Morrie and the next day he passed away for good on September 9th, 2013. We made funeral preparations. This time I could accept him dying and not regretting all the time I hadn’t been able to spend with him because I made up for it. Morrie taught me to live each day to the fullest and to do something you love to do each day because you never know when it may be your last. Each of your days are numbered. Live each without regret.