Life is Fragile

This past weekend a young friend of our family died.

She was a beautiful 19 year old girl who was just married a couple of months ago.  Her husband is a soldier for the US Army, and they were to live in San Antonio.  We were not that close, she was the daughter of my brother’s best friend, they are police officers- partners. I met Samantha a half dozen times at family gatherings- her dad’s birthday and such.

I was closer to her dad.  He was very close to my family- my mother often referred to him as her “other son”.  The relationship he and my brother shared made him and his family even more important to my family.

Samantha was a bubbly sweet country girl. Her genuine open-heartedness was evident right away- her greetings and good-byes ALWAYS involved a hug. I’ll never forget the way she made a point to look me in the eye before and after the hugs- and how struck I was by her unbelievably sweet energy.

I find myself deeply saddened by her tragic end. A head-on automobile collision took her instantly. I was shocked by this tragedy- by her passing specifically- but in general how fragile our lives are.

What a gift it is that most of us live everyday of our lives never thinking about our own death! We cheat death each moment- and tease death with our mindlessness as we blindly go through life with out a thought that this moment could be one of our very last.

I am more aware since Samantha died. But i know, it wont last very long. Soon enough I’ll be talking on my phone in the car, or I’ll have a glass of wine or two and drive myself home. These are dangerous things (that have nothing to do with Sam’s death) but they are simply how we live our lives… mindless, careless and without out a fleeting thought of our own mortality.

Sometimes I wonder if the only thing that will change our living without regard for death- is to experience it. First- hand.