Tuesday, January 19, 2010

SEIZE THE DAY.

On Sunday, while NY Jets fans were celebrating an improbable win and a chance to go to the Super Bowl, I found myself getting caught up in the moment. It was nice to see the smiles on the faces of the locals celebrating the success of their team.

While the chaos of the celebration took place around me, I received a text message from a friend of mine from back in my high school days. We'd recently reconnected thanks to Facebook and it's been good to have this person back in my life. So when I saw her name on my phone, I figured she was sending me a message about the game.

As it turned out, it was quite the opposite. The message indicated that a mutual friend of ours had passed away.

Now you hear about people passing away all the time. Usually it's someone with a distant connection, say an alum of your high school class of 1956 or college class of 1960. Aside from my brother's passing a few years back, I haven't really had an experience of having someone I grew up with and having a close relationship passing away in the prime of their life. So the news of this particular person's passing totally knocked me for a loop.

For the next few hours, I felt myself walking around in a fog. While Jet fans were reveling in the glow of victory, sharing beers and shot toasts, I tried to continue overseeing the events of the night while at the same time, wrapping my head around the tragic news I'd just received. Memories of the past with this particular individual, a larger-than-life figure at our high school, well liked by everyone with an infectious smile that could melt the coldest personality flooded my mind. He had done a lot with his life, choosing a path of service to others, first with working with inner-city children, then as a pastor of his own church. He seemed to have it all going for him until his sudden passing. He was only a couple of years older than me, which immediately caused me to think about my own mortality. That only seems natural I guess.

After work, I came home and went on the 'net (and ironically enough, Facebook) to seek out more news about my friend's untimely passing. Sure enough, there were many references to his passing from his family, friends and of course, former high school classmates. The general tone was one of shock, sadness and celebration of this person's life. And the common theme from most of us through all of this was a simple one: SEIZE THE DAY. Enjoy what you have and the people around you. Don't let little petty differences keep you from enjoying life and each other. Because quite simply, it could all be gone tomorrow.

And even though I hadn't seen this person for years, we still maintained a good connection and could pick up a conversation as if it was yesterday. I will always have nothing but good memories of Jon and he will be a constant reminder to live life to the fullest. Just as he did.



That's It. That's All I Got.