Another Harsh Reality

To begin, I am not obsessed with dying. I really am not. Having said so, I wonder. Am I trying to convince you, the reader, or am I trying to convince me, the writer? Hmm. Yes it is true – I have mentioned dying in a previous story or two. But that doesn’t mean that I am obsessed with dying. Or does it? Hmmm.

So, what exactly brought about my most recent contemplation with the prospects of dying? It was a single sentence that I came across yesterday. It was a simple, yet profound, sentence. “Everyone in your life will have a last day with you, and you don’t even know when it will be.”

So, how many times did you reread that last sentence? Did you pause to contemplate the implications? I did. In the past twenty-four hours or so I reread that sentence several times. In the past twenty-four hours or so I gave that sentence considerable contemplation.

Which explains why, once again, here I sit in front of my keyboard, hunting and pecking. To begin, I asked myself, what’s the big deal? After all, those twenty words merely state the obvious. The obvious being just another inescapable fact of life. We live, we exist, and we die. Or, said another way, they lived, they touched my life, and they died. Whatever. No biggie. Right?

Once again, just another harsh reality. Once again, just another inescapable reality. Granted, back in the day, it was easy being unfazed whenever grandma or grandpa spoke about the loss of someone near and dear to them. But today, not so much. It is a whole different thing when we are the grandma or the grandpa speaking about the loss of someone near and dear to us.

But, life does indeed go on. And yes, dying is just another step we all must take on our own circle of life journey. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Blah, blah, and blah. Thank goodness I, the writer, am not obsessed with dying – at least not too much. Thank goodness you, the reader, is not obsessed with reading about dying – at least hopefully no more so than I am.

And on a positive note, as stated in an earlier story, I am still not going to start reciting the lyrics of a Garth Brooks song. That said, you still might want to call or text someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. Tell them you love them – and sound sincere. At the very least, you’ll most surely make them wonder, what the heck was that all about? They might even say, "Yeah, me too."