I have not written for a while.
I’ve been “busy”.
We moved from Australia back home to New Zealand. I have started a new job and have the opportunity to catch up with friends and family. I caught up with my 99 year old Grandmother, had time with friends sharing old stories and making a few new memories.
“It was great to catch up with many more friends and family…”
Saturday just passed (23rd June) I organised a surprise get together to celebrate my Uncle turning 70….he, like all of us, believes that he / we are much younger than our age. We all feel young at heart and I am sure that on occasions the body reminds us that we are getting older.
It was great to catch up with many more friends and family and to share a drink, a laugh….memories.
There were also some friends that I had literally not seen for over a decade including a couple that I had not seen since college.
“Down to earth, easy going …”
One was a guy called Robert. Unassuming at school, he had not changed much.
Down to earth, easy going and on Saturday (unfortunately for me) he was another “face in the crowd” that I did not get to go and say “Hi” to.
I did get to meet his wife and chat with her, albeit briefly, but it was nice to meet her just the same.
I thought nothing much of it as we would more than likely see them again next Saturday as we were all planning on coming back to this particular venue. All good.
“Robert did not survive.”
Not so….sadly Robert, his wife and his son were in a car accident on Sunday. Robert did not survive. His wife is in hospital as I write this and his son, family and friends are all traumatised by what has happened.
Am I upset that I did not go and say “Hi”? Absolutely.
I went over just as we were leaving to attend another function and Robert had gone to the bar. I caught up with the rest of the group and as we left, I caught Robert’s eye at the bar, raised my eyebrows as a “greeting” and thought I’ll catch up with him next week.
We can not control our future. We can try to make it the best we can. We can try to be good people and make the world a better place…but we can not control everything.
I went to school with Robert and I had not seen him in decades. We were both a little older, maybe wiser….who knows?
“…life is short and unpredictable…”
What I do know is that in the last 8 months I have lost 3 people that were all a part of my life in some way. Some moreso than others. What I also know is that life is short and unpredictable.
On Saturday I celebrated a 70th and a 30th….on Sunday I tried to make sense of the distance between the emotions I had on Saturday versus the emotions I had on Sunday.
I have spent way too much time being “busy” and not enough time stopping to appreciate ALL that is good in my life.
Take time to Make time. None of us know when it may run out.
Rest in Peace Robert.
