Life is Short

I skim the obituaries in the newspaper every day. Some are a few brief lines while others are lengthy tributes. It makes me think I'd like to write my own so I know exactly what it will say. I like the ones that describes their personality. You can see the love the writer had for them. Everyone will eventually die and it's especially sad to see a young person in the obits. We had one very recently, a 17 year old girl killed in a car accident days before her high school graduation. School officials had a graduation ceremony in her hospital room where they presented her with her diploma. She was on life support and died the next day. I feel bad for her parents and loved ones that now have to pick up the pieces of their lives and go on. I think of a young life gone and what she could have given the world. It makes me sad. But I didn't know her and while I grieve for a few minutes and ponder her life I move on with mine. The recent succession of celebrity deaths affects me more personally. I know that sounds odd, I've never met them or know their families but because they've been in the public eye I do to a degree feel like I know them.

Billy Mays 1958-2009

I've seen his commercials pushing products over the years and never gave him much thought except to wonder why he yells. But since April I've been watching his show Pitchmen on Discovery and have seen the person he is. Billy was a kind man who honestly wanted people's dreams to succeed and would do his best to make them happen. He never ridiculed someones idea even if it was silly. He had a great sense of humor and loved his family and friends. He seemed to be for me anyways, one of those people that lit up a room when they came in. Not because he was full of himself but because he enjoyed people. As I said, I didn't know him personally, just from television but he seemed genuine and that's rare in TV land.

What's also rather strange for me is that Michael Jackson was just 3 weeks younger than me and Billy Mays was 6 days older than me. It makes me think of my own mortality. Hubby assures me that since I'm not addicted to several different pain killers and I haven't been bonked on the head recently that I'm not going anywhere soon. It's not really that. I think these deaths are reminding me that life is short and can end at any time. Maybe this is what elderly people feel like when their friends and contemporaries start to pass.

On another note, remember this post? Last week we made our reservations for the 4th of July fireworks boat cruise in NYC. I'm glad we did and if we hadn't I sure as hell would have been doing it today.