We wake, shower, eat and step onto the race track of life each day sometimes knowing where we’re going, sometimes not…

Whether our pace is that of a gazelle, school bus or an ant, we move not because we want to necessarily but because we have to. None of us really know what we’re doing here, but we make the best of it most times. We form friendships, partnerships, relationships, sometimes we build ships and put splashy names on the front. Usually paying homage to an idea, a lover or a movement. We are clever that way.

As we go about our daily lives there are events that occur routinely that remind us that we are not here to stay. Of course we know this, but life has a way of making you forget that you will die one day. As it should. We can’t fully live if we’re always focusing on the end now can we?

But when friends, loved ones, parents and people we admire from afar or even strangers pass on it reminds us if but for a short time that there is an end. Seeing someone that you laughed with, shared ideas with, leaned on and looked up to say their farewell to world is never easy. You feel like a connection has been broken, you think about the good things that were about to happen for them, you wonder how their close friends and family will cope without them. How you will cope. Even if you didn’t speak everyday or you hadn’t seen them in years, you remember their laugh, linger on their words of advice and admire their spirit and moxie to achieve their dreams.

The memories flash in and out of your mind like lightning, loud and forceful at first. Then they settle softly like a summer wind. We know that their fate is our fate. They are us, we are them. But in remembrance we must continue to live and honor their presence by doing the un-doable, climbing over barriers, making some more mistakes, repairing what we’ve broken, walking the unpaved road, being open to love, making the difficult decisions, being patient, rattling the cougar cage, shooting the three and missing, never quitting, keeping our promises, saying it only when we mean it, taking the time to travel, exploring hidden meanings, nurturing and protecting our inner child, having a child, being a child and loving the very mysteries that cause us angst.

Sometimes there will be no answer that will satisfy the question of why. The only true answer is life.

So…

Live.

© 2010 – 2014, TamekaMullins. All rights reserved.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.