Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Life & Death

Both have been on my mind lately. A number of things have happened recently that brings both subjects to light.

About 2 weeks ago one of my long time friends called, and told me that she was on medical leave, because she had a stroke. What?! We are only 42 years old, and I am older by a few months. She is still having various tests done, but she is ok. Of course in our conversations, she mentioned some of the things she had in place for her son. And a family member being upset because they wanted her car...WTF? Ok that will be another post.

However, all of this had me thinking about friends and/or relatives that didn't live to see certain milestones in their life.
  1. My dad, who died shortly after his 50th birthday, but before his grandson was born (my son who just turned 19 yesterday.)
  2. A highschool classmate that died in a car wreck, before our 5th year highschool reunion.
  3. A close friend of mine, his birthday was the day before mine...he died of cancer a few months before he would turn 40.
  4. Another friend of mine lost her sister to breast cancer a few months after we turned 40.
There are others some that I may not remember in this moment.

And I also remember things that have happened to me where I think, "Wow, I lived through that?" All of this makes me think that each day I get I need to be thankful for. Even if that is a day that I failed my math test, or don't quite have the money to pay that bill. I am not going to be happy every single day, but I have to make the most of the days that I have. And fulfill whatever purpose that I have on this earth, even if I am taking a little longer than most to figure out what that is.

Actually as I write this there is a report right now on the news, about a local 15 year old that died after a battle with cancer. They were interviewing children from the middle school he attended.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We need reminders just like this to teach us to be grateful. Dang, I'm going to be 42 in a few weeks and I can't imagiine going through what your friend is experiencing.

Remnants of U said...

Yes, it is scary, and I hate that I live so far away.

Brotha Buck said...

I'm 42-43, I lost count. And it always freaks me out to hear of the sudden death of someone my age.