Where did he go?

A friend of mine from high school and college told me we lost a high school friend. I wanted to ask, "Where did he go?" Because at our age, we're too young to be losing people. It's not time for our schoolmates to start dying on us.

Yet, it's happened. This isn't the first school mate that has passed, but he's still one of the first and someone I spent a lot of time with in high school. So this one hits very close to home.

We're not young anymore. And this is the age that we start losing people. This is when people start having heart problems and contracting cancer. One out of 3 women contract cancer. 1 in 5 die from it. Think about your closest friends. Which one of them will it be? Men's outlook is even more dire. 1 out of 2 contract. 1 out of 4 die.

My mantra about life being short is sad but true. This is why I live big. I admit to
having used questionable judgment at times, but I learn from my mistakes and have few regrets. If I make it to old age, I don't want to be sitting around with my 50 cats saying to myself, "if only I'd done_____" or "I wish I would have tried_____" I want to have done all the things.

I also want to make an impact on the people around me. I want help, nurture, and support my family and friends. And if I've had a falling out, I want to be content with the lengths I have gone to to make amends.

When it's all over, I hope to look back at my life and not lament the things I never did. I want to go out satisfied that I'd lived life fully, leaving as few failures as possible in my wake.

Living for the Moment

Have you ever read the book Never Eighteen? You know the one, where the teenage boy is going to die, so he makes this bucket list of things he wants to do and see, and all the people he wants to visit to remind that you only get one shot at life and you better make the most of it?

HAHAHA yeah, that's my book. I know. But ever since writing that, and more than that, ever since my divorce, I really believe we should be living our lives that way, because yeah, one day it could all end we could be too sick or injured, or worse yet, too dead to do the things we still want to do in life.

I want to keep writing, keep publishing books. It's why I've chosen the indie route. I don't want to wait another two to three years to see another book on the shelf. I want to travel and if I have to live a little beyond my means to do it, I will. I want to have fun and enjoy life. I want to entertain people, throw parties.

I WANT TO LIVE!!

I want to go places I've never gone. I've made a rash decision to go to Vegas next month. Vegas has never been on the top of my list of places to go. So why? Because I can. Because I have a little money in the bank. Because I've never been there. Because someone asked me to go. So why not?

Life is short. In a short few weeks I have seen seen someone commit suicide, known of three terminal cancer patients, and one heart attack. Some day this could be me (not the suicide, but the other things). And think about the bombing in Boston. Those three people that died, they were young. Very young. There is no way they saw that coming.

I'm going to live life for today and try not to think about what comes tomorrow. I've let myself get depressed and stressed again, and I'm thinking this is just the mentality I need to bring myself out of the slump again.

Maybe I'll even make a bucket list.

Tell me, what are some of the things you would like to do, see? What are some goals you have for yourself?