It’s interesting how a crisis can help you put things in perspective. A high-school friend of mine died on May 12, 2017, from a rare form of cancer, and this brought up all sorts of emotions; another nudge from above as a reminder to live in the moment.

So I wanted to share a post I had written back in 2013, about another friend who died suddenly.

Several years ago a friend of mine died. It was a sudden death. Unexpected. Possibly a heart attack from stress. It happened at night sometime. He was alone. He was about my age.

The initial shock I felt lasted hours. The stuff I was working on lost importance. To say that what I was worrying about became meaningless would be an overstatement, but my concerns definitely seemed not so important anymore. I felt restless, unable to function, unwilling to do anything but pace and reflect.

Then sadness set in. More memories. Age-old questions: Why? Why him? Why now?

More hours passed, and it occurred to me at some point that I could easily sink into despair, bombarded by questions that would bring no peace,

OR

I could celebrate my friend’s life, and think of the good times, the happy times, the essence of who he was. That is what he would prefer, I believe.

Yes, I will have my time of mourning. Yet in celebrating my friend’s life, I will also be honoring my own because I will try even harder not to take life too seriously and to always put things in perspective. I will do my best not only to live each moment, as it is occurring, but to be grateful for the things I have in my life, and the time I have here on Earth.

I might never know the ‘why’ of what happened. But I will try even harder to treasure every moment and to be grateful for life, friends, family, situations (even the bad ones)…

Because life has more meaning this way.