My little sister was born when I was eight years old. She was like a child to me. I bathed her, I changed her diaper, I took care of her when she was sick, played with her, gave her advice, fought with her... Because of the age gap, I always looked at her as a baby instead of a friend. (That is a struggle I've been trying to get through for the last six years or so, since she is not a baby anymore, but that is another story.) When I found out she was pregnant, it hit me really hard. SHE'S NOT OLD ENOUGH SHE'S LIKE TWELVE YEARS OLD HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE!!!??!! That's what kept going through my head. But she is not twelve years old. She is nineteen. She is an adult who has been in a very committed relationship with a great guy for almost two years.
(Side note: I always thought that when my sister had a child, that's when I'd know I'm getting old. I'm proud to say I'm 27, not old, and I'm going to be the coolest aunt in the history of ever.)
One of my best friends as a child was recently in a boating accident. She almost died. She had to have her leg amputated. Now she and I haven't been close since we were twelve, but it was pretty shocking to me still. This girl is one of the most athletic girls I know...she is in the Air Force! And this family is amazing. As I read her blog and her friend's blog about the accident, I am in complete awe of how she is handling the whole thing. When I grow up, I want to be like her. Strong, independent, faithful, caring, determined, loving....Christlike. (Her parents really got it right when they named her Christy.)
I have a very good friend, easily one of my top ten favorite people, who was diagnosed with skin cancer fairly recently. He has been battling it, and luckily, it's shrinking. But not as quickly as they want. Finding out that someone you love has cancer is shocking. It rocks your world a little bit. I try not to think about how dreary the world would be without him. Instead, I try to focus on making sure we always catch up, we see each other whenever we're in the same county, and we make each other laugh.
My mom's good friend died a few days ago. It was sudden and unexpected. Her youngest child is a senior in high school. She's only a couple years older than my mom. When hardly anybody came to my bachelorette party, she came. She was a great friend and a good person. It was too soon.
I got married five years ago yesterday. Three years later, to the day, I definitively decided on divorce. I have two other friends who were married the same day. They celebrated their five year anniversaries last night. They each have two children. If you would have asked me where I'd be today five years ago, I would've guessed that I'd be in the same boat as them.
But life doesn't always turn out how we expect it to be. Sometimes life has other ideas. Sometimes it's not even life that has these other ideas, sometimes it's just other people. Life is just a series of actions and reactions.
Someone reminded me a couple days ago that we are not guaranteed anything more than right now. We have THIS moment. We don't know when our time will come. We don't even know if there is anything after this. Most of us hope and believe that there is... I know I do! But if there's not, what are you doing RIGHT NOW to make the most of your life?
I see so many people just sitting back and waiting for life to happen to them.
But life. doesn't. happen. TO you.
YOU make life happen. YOU create the life you want.
Life is precious. Don't waste it.
