Life sometimes comes at you full force and hits you in the face. I feel a little bit like that lately and today’s post may be more for me than for any of my readers . Sometimes it just helps me to put it down on paper. Or in this case—on screen.
I had it all planned out—a nice little early birthday vacation get away for my mom. We were going to go spend a few days together, see a show, stay at a nice hotel and eat yummy food. Plane ticket bought, hotel booked, show booked, routes mapped out. Then plans changed. And it was okay because I was still able to spend time with my mom. Her first cousin passed away and instead of going on an adventure we went to a visitation and funeral service for a 90 year old woman who had lived a full and complete life. I met cousins that I didn’t know I had and it was pretty wonderful to be able to meet some of these people that either I had never met or it had been years since we had seen each other.
I came home and found out about another death. This time it was the brother of the girl who takes care of our kitties when we travel. I had never met him but I felt like I had since I know his sister and mom so well. it was totally unexpected and a shock. He was only 24, our own son’s age, and it hit me hard. I can not get it off my mind. We just got back from visitation and the place was packed with friends and family who were in various stages of shock and disbelief. His parents and sister and brother oscillated between smiles and tears as folks filed through and gazed upon the pictures and memorabilia related to this young man who is gone too soon.
How do I reconcile the different emotions that I am feeling? When a 90 year old dies you say “they lived a long good life”. When a 24 year old dies you say “they are gone too soon” . In both cases a hole is left in the hearts of the loved ones. Each life is precious. The 90 year touched many lives over her long life. The 24 year had only just begun his journey in this thing called life and yet, he also had touched many lives. Do I even pretend to understand why he died at such a young age? No. I can’t. What I do want to do is remember that life is precious and unpredictable. We live in an imperfect world and try as we may there will always be things that we just do not understand. All we can do is take each day and recognize it for the gift that it is and be grateful that we have this day to be with those that we love. In November we often focus on thankfulness and our blessings—why don’t you list one of yours below in the comments? I would love to hear them all today—it would help cancel out some of the sadness in my heart.
