Here today, Gone tomorrow

Sunday, February 19, 2012
I don't know how I am feeling or how I should be feeling. An old colleague, roughly the same age as I, beginning 30's, passed away last night. Leaving behind his pregnant wife and 3 year old son, brokenhearted. Their whole world has just been shattered in thousands of pieces. Pieces that will probably never come back together perfectly. Or at all for that 
matter.

He was the kindest, most gentle soul ever. He was a truly genuine, caring person filled with only good intentions. I haven't crossed paths with him in perhaps 4 to 5 years now, but in my mind, his memory is still vivid. He spoke so proudly of his son. Spoke with immense admiration of his wife. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that his family was his world. Along with his passion for ATVs. He loved his passion so much he made it his profession. His freetime was no exception. Making sure he took advantage of any opportunity to go for a ride. And of course, all those business trips taking him to races, client meetings and so on. He definitely was eating and breathing ATVs. Ultimately, that passion had the best of him. Which kind of makes me think that he probably died happy. Doing what he loved the 
most.

So, I ask, does it make it better? I don't quite know. I guess you could say it does. But it
doesn't shake away the uneasiness and distress invading me. Surreal. I guess that is the only word I can find right now to sum it all up. I beleive what is troubling me the most in all this is the unexpectedness of this sorrowful event. How it truly makes you open your eyes to the fact that life can be taken away from you at any given moment. No one is immune from it. Death. One moment you can be chuckling away with your loved ones and the next, you are heartsick over their loss. As I am writing these words, my heart is swelling up. I can't help feeling sadness and pain for the wife and son he left behind. This one really hits home. Most likely because they were a family like ours. A young family with a very young child. It is extremely hard for me to translate into words what is stirring inside me. My thoughts are scrambled. My hearts is bleeding. I have tremendous sympathy for his widow and son. Growing up, my dad used to always tell me "Make sure you always tell your loved ones goodnight before going to bed, no matter what kind of argument you might have had in the day. Don't go to bed mad at each other because you never know what the next day has in store for you.". Funny how these words are coming back to mind right now. To be quite truthful, these words of wisdom have not crossed my mind since I don't know when. In fact, some while ago I shall say. But tonight, I can feel them more powerful than ever. 
They are ignited in me.

Getting caught up in our everyday lives, it is much too easy to take each other for granted.
To not take that time, as little as it is, to renew with our emotions. And to communicate them. As this day casually comes to an end and this episode slowly sinks in, I arrive to this final though... Do these troubling, dispirited events happening around us serve as warning signs? Some kind of wake-up call? I can only speak for myself when I say that those words my dad used to reiterate, they will never be forgotten from this point on. Life is too short to forget to tell our loved ones we love them and to take the time to cherish them. It is WAY 
too short.

RIP S.A.





1 Fabulous Comments:

Danielle Trudel said...

Hi Melissa,

You are so true we often forget to tell our loved ones how much we care about them and love them. It only takes a few seconds to say so but it worths a million.

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