an important reminder

 

My mother holding me when I was just a baby - 1960, Los Angeles, CA



Me and my father at a college Father-Daughter Dance - 1978, Buena Vista, VA

I don’t know if it’s just my age, or if things are truly different than they used to be, but…and I know everyone dies, but….when I was 20, even 30…I thought “old” people died. Like, 70-year-old people. I feel like in just the past few years so many people that are my age, and even younger, have died. Suddenly. People in seemingly good health. Active people. Happy people. Boom. Dead. Heart attacks, aneurisms, strokes – things that can seem to come out of nowhere and just…change worlds. In an instant.

A parent of a student at the school where I work. She was right about my age, no known significant health issues. And in an instant, she was gone. Leaving behind a devastated family – a husband and two teenage children. It’s heartbreaking.

And it reminds me how tenuous life is. How what can seem stable…is not. It reminds me to just love the heck out of those special people in your life. Take care of relationships. Appreciate people. Be nice. Enjoy the beauty in the world around you. We’re all here for such a short time.
Make good use of it. Don’t waste it.

These are my parents, who both died suddenly (not together). There are so many things I regret not saying or doing when they were still alive. This is a reminder to you today, to be extra nice to those you love…and even to a stranger on the street. There may not be another opportunity.