Death- Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying!

Today I ponder death. My wife was clearly upset today because a co-worker’s son’s viewing was today. He was an adult and had a terminal illness. His death was expected. The family was as prepared as they could ever be, I suppose. My wife started working at this new location after the New Year. I distinctively remember her telling me, shortly after she started there, about this co-worker and her son. It seems like the Mom was trying everything to celebrate her child’s life by taking off and spending time with him while he was still alive.

After my wife came back from the viewing, she was visibly upset. Any parent believes that you are not meant to bury your children. This death affected my wife more than I could imagine. As I see her in her pain, I ponder my own confliction. Death is so final. Since the day you were born, you started your path to die. It could be 2 days or 36500 days (that’s 100 years, if you’re doing the math) until your death, but we all still will die.

I have never been a person obsessed with death. But as I approach my 40’s, there are times when I think of it more often. The only reason I do is because of the lives I helped create, my children. I hope to live long enough for my children to give me grandchildren. But sometimes it is in the back of my mind that what if I die tomorrow. What if I don’t wake up? Who will take care of my children how I want to take care of them? To date, these thoughts are passing thoughts and do not linger. These are the thoughts we all think about but never want to make the decision because we do not feel we will ever truly die, right?

But still I ponder death. Now as my wife is visibly shaken, I hope that the two of us just try to embrace what we have for as long as we have it. We could both be around for 60 years or not. We just have to enjoy what we have and try and look at life through our children’s eyes while they still have their innocence. Let’s all live each day as it is our last by enjoying what we have and ignore (or try to ignore) everything else!