Last night I went to the funeral of an old friend’s dad. I actually used to be extremely close with this girl in high school. We’d hang out every day after school and on the weekends. We’d go to Disneyland, baseball games, and movies together. We had inside jokes and loved to laugh together. We used to be best friends. And then something happened. Something I never really understood. She turned her back on our little group. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact she was going through a lot, especially with her dad. Our senior year in high school he got sick and ended up developing a condition where he could no longer walk. I know it was very hard for her to see her once extremely active dad bound to a wheelchair. Her whole family went through a lot these past five years and last Thursday he died from pneumonia.
Honestly, I debated whether or not I should go to the funeral because of the way she shut me out. In the end I decided to go because, for one, I knew and liked her dad, and two, she was once one of my closest friends and I wanted to be there for her in this sad time.
Death is never easy. My grandpa died, as some of you know, this past September and while he lived a wonderful and long life it was still so hard for our family. But for my friend’s dad to pass in his early 50s is such a tragedy. It makes you wonder how is it fair for this girl to lose her dad so young. There are so many experiences she’ll never get to have with him. He won’t be there when she graduates college, or to walk her down the aisle, or to be a grandfather to her children. It’s so unfair. I know he’ll be there in spirit but it will just never be the same.
I was worried about what she’d think when she saw me but when I went to talk to her she gave me a big hug and told me how much it meant to have me there. No matter what happened we can still be there for each other and I think that’s really amazing. Life is too short for grudges.
Things like this make me realize how lucky we all are to have our own lives and family and friends. Our lives and loved ones can be taken from us at any moment and it’s so important to appreciate and love them. It’s a cliche, I know, but we can gain a lot from “living every day to the fullest.”
I didn’t want this to be a somber post but more of an opportunity to appreciate life.
image via here
