1 month ago I had a short but clear dream. I dreamed that Steve Jobs died and that I asked him to catch my uncle up on the last 17 years of technology - or at least the bits I'd missed in my letters. Uncle Geoff is the man who told me at 10 years old (in 1985, 9 years before Photoshop) that one day I'd be able to draw on a computer - that simple idea inspired my career, just like the simple ideas from Steve inspired millions of careers.
Geoff died from cancer in 1994 - the first graphical browser interface had just been released, the Internet was taking off, I was graduating from high school - and he had just turned 27.
I've been writing a book ever since ... a series of letters to Geoff. Inspired by milestones in technology where, as a kid and teenager I would have told him in person and he would respond with his technological imaginary - the utopian ideas of where he saw that technology fitting into our lives in the future. He was practical where I was fanciful, but the older I get the more unfair it seems that he didn't get to see what we imagined and to complete our 'maybe one day we will be able to ....' sentences. I feel responsible for telling him, because this was his thing - he helped me find this path, but he's never seen me design, correct photos or build a web page. He should be here to see what he imagined - and that he was wrong about the CD being forever!
If he was here, his Facebook wall may have been the first I posted on this morning ...
Geoff knew about death. While Geoff studied and grew up, his mother died slowly over 14 years as cancer ate her body away. When he was diagnosed with an aggressive and rare form of testicular cancer he was more frightened of becoming a burden than of death. 8 months later, less than the time it takes for a new baby to grow, he fell asleep on his couch in his sun room to the haunting sax of Dire Straights - half an hour before I arrived to say goodbye.
Geoff gave me an amazing gift, the ability to live every day as if it might be my last.
Steve Jobs, a man who is known to all of us - unlike my humble, unknown Uncle Geoff - has given you the same gift ... all you have to do is listen.
Transcript: "When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
In the words of Buzz Lightyear, another technological miracle inspired by Steve Jobs ....
To Infinity And Beyond.
So Steve, if you want an audience in 'heaven' to tell your life story, look for Geoff - he'll be the geeky one in the front row.
