Lately, I’m starting to think of life as a game of Russian Roulette with everyone waiting to see whose number comes up next. Almost every day, I hear of someone else I know having a terminal illness and I can’t help but wonder when the hand of fate will tap me – or someone I love.
One shouldn’t dwell on such things, I know, but how can
you not think about death when it’s happening all around you so often?
I’m not alone. I have a friend whose first act every
morning is looking at the obituary. She says she checks the ages of the
deceased to see how many are her age or younger and how many are older.
“Why does it matter?” I asked.
“It doesn’t,” she said, “but it makes me feel a little
better if there are more older ones than there are the same age or younger.
Some days I win. Others, I lose. It’s just a game I play.”
“I don’t even look at the obituary unless I’ve already
heard about a friend or acquaintance dying,?”
I told her. “Why look for something depressing?”
Life is short, to be sure!
We glide effortlessly from
infanthood to childhood, the teen-age years, young adulthood, adulthood and
middle-age. And then one day, we are surprised to find ourselves in the autumn
of our years. It’s about now that we begin to question whether we have run a
good race – enjoyed life to the fullest. It’s when we realize how little time
we have left and we finally start to live in the moment – squeezing every drop of goodness from each one. It
is also a time to set things straight. No regrets.
3 comments:
Wow! A powerful piece Peggy. Good post.
Nice reflections. a lot to think about here. All true.
Life is short that's true. We just have to make the most of it. when its over its over. good post peg.
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