A recent family situation has helped me appreciate the distinction between two “lasts”: knowing when the last time is going to be (“the last day before this store closes” or “my last day in high school”) and only coming to know that it was the last time long after the moment passes (“the last hug or kiss of a loved one” or “the last day I would live in that house”).
“When” things happen is rarely in our control.
I am not sure that it’s the same as, “Live each day as if it was the last,” but I am certain that the more I observe and listen and explore the realm of what is happening NOW, the more I am actually in touch with what I did not “know” before – that is, I notice things that were previously unknown. Removing the assumption of “when” opens up the reality of the only certainty: what is happening right now.