Carpe Diem

I make a big deal about my age. I obssess over it, I'm constantly in the mirror plucking gray hairs, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles, and in general making a fool out of myself. For all intents and purposes, I am young. Now, I realize that I'm no "spring chicken", but I'm also not ready for the rocking chair and actually, I think I can say I'm somewhat comfortable with where I am age-wise. After the shocking news I received today, my behavior has been embarrassing. Today, I learned that a friend of mine from jr. high and high school died. He was the sweetest boy, the cuter of a set of twins, so intelligent, athletic, and caring. Boys wanted to be like him and girls, well, we wanted to be with him. Struck down in the prime of his life. We'd lost contact over the years, a natural course of life after school, so I don't know if he was married or had children. Still, my heart goes out to his family. We are never given a promise of a tomorrow, but at the same time, we never expect to die young. We plan for long successful lives, marriages that last, children and lots of grandchildren, but it's at moments like these when we should realize that life is short. Take time to smell the roses, as the old cliche says, carpe diem and all that stuff. Appreciate those you love and make sure they know you love them.