Friday Thoughts July 18,2009

Friday thoughts . . .

This week I received sad news. A very good friend of mine was out for a summer afternoon with her daughter. Her daughter was driving and another car crossed the meridian and hit my friend’s vehicle head on. My friend and the driver of the other car died at the scene. Her daughter survived and was released from hospital later that day.
The good news is her daughter survived, the good news is that my friend didn’t suffer for days on life support; the good news is that my friend lived life at a very high level. Her career as a specialist was very successful. She was highly respected in her field. She was well loved, by all who knew her. She was a talented interior designer. She travelled the world. She was quite athletic, an avid skier and wind surfer and she always made me laugh when the most common things escaped her. She lived life fully and was always thinking what’s next. I found it impossible to comprehend that someone I had helped shop last Friday was gone. I dropped off cards and flowers at her home in Pitt Meadows. My mind was playing tricks on me. I almost didn’t leave the flowers and cards as I was wondering what she would be thinking as she read the cards because of course she was coming home from work that evening and everything was just a cruel joke. It wasn’t until her dad, a small, elderly, kind gentleman cried on my shoulder and I felt his pain did it really sink in and I knew that she really was gone from this life.

In my quiet time this week, as I garden or listen to the river, I cannot help but reflect on how abrupt death can be. Questions run rampant in my head. When the sand in the hour glass runs out and the games over what’s left? Where does your life fit in? What do you do to prepare for death? Did you live your life or did you live someone else’s? Does it matter whether you became all that you could be? And who judges? Will your impact in death be smaller or larger in life? How can you really be sure that you did what you set out to do? Was the “doing” that was important or was it the “being” that made the difference? How much of your life did you spend in each? If you knew the impact your life held for others would you live it differently? If you knew you could not fail – what would you do?

I came across this poem and wanted to share it with you:
The Dash by Linda Ellis

http://www.thedashmovie.com/index.html

When I watched this movie I thought of Hannah and the impact she made to my life over the past fifteen years and the love she showed all her friends. This Friday’s thought is dedicated to you Hania Binder 1956 – 2009. I love you, my friend.

Deb