My dad died in 2005, three months after turning 64. For a while, I was upset at the things he missed in life: me completing my first book (which turned out to be a trilogy) and my sister having her first kid. By the time he would have reached 70, I stopped thinking of the things he would have missed, as I didn’t believe he would have lived long, if alcoholism hadn’t claimed him in 2005.
My husband died in 2013 at the age of 38. One of the many problems with losing people that young is that we have years and years and years of seeing things they would have missed that they would have connected with or enjoyed. Today, I saw a music video that reminded me so much of the things he used to show me. He missed it.
There are books, movies, TV shows, discoveries, so much LIFE that people miss when they die young. And there isn’t anything we can do except enjoy it and think of them. I’d rather he had lived to see the interesting things.
I want so badly to end this on an up note, about how at least I get to see the interesting things, but it’s still hard. We’ll try it this way. If you see something interesting, be it a movie, book or music video, or flower or cloud, take the time to enjoy it. Too many times we miss things. If you have 70-90 years on this planet, you’ll see a lot. Don’t allow yourself to miss things, just because you think you have a lot of time.
Cat Stark 