The Long Goodbye

               Death came too close last week. A team member was in the hospital doing well and getting ready to be discharged the next day when fate took a turn. The call came late on a Friday night. Two days later her family and friends walked to the cemetery in a solemn single file line with crying in our hearts.

               How can someone be here one day with hopes and dreams of the future and gone the next? We are never ready. And she was so young, only in her 30s, doing good work, raising her kids, helping her family, preparing to be in her sister’s wedding.

               The call came on the eve of the anniversary of my Mom’s death. I’m not sure how 14 years have passed already. She stays in my heart and thoughts, and I look down and see my hands have become like her hands, worn from hard work and raising a family, staying busy with life’s endless tasks.

               I am also pulled back to the week after my arrival here, getting the news of a long-time friend who also passed away so suddenly. My last words with her were “I’ll see you when I get back”, but the universe had other plans and we never spoke again. We had more adventures planned. We met in college and were growing old together, always able to pick up a conversation or go out for a bite.

               Life takes sudden turns. One minute someone is there and the next they are not. Every now and then you forget and think about calling them or just sending a quick text. Something you want to share, to quickly reconnect, but then you realize that although their number is still in your phone they are aren’t going to answer, no longer on the other end.

Forever is a long time to miss someone.