Be Sure To Only Die Once

Life is the special occasion

When my mother died nearly twenty years ago, my world turned upside down and I was completely unable to continue with my life as I had known it before her death. I didn’t know how to live without my mother and I struggled mightily.

One day, several months after mom’s death while I was still as raw as the day she died, a friend who wanted to help me said, “I know it hurts Marion. It’s a really good thing people can only die one time.”

My friend and I were out walking on a trail and I don’t remember what I said after that or very much about the rest of our walk. But for the life of me, I couldn’t get her “people only die once” comment out of my head.

Of course we only die one time. Why would she say something so obvious?

Perplexed, I just accepted that she must be trying to soothe my pain by reminding me that I won’t ever have to go through it again. That brought only a little comfort, but I was glad to have even that.
When we got back to our cars, we said our goodbyes and my friend said some more powerful words to me. “I know you are hurting and I am here.”

For several days, I kept thinking back to our walk and what she had said about dying only once. Then while out walking alone, I was stopped in my tracks…

Of course we only die one time…

That is if we’re talking literally…

I was grateful for that wake-up call.

I still am.

I only want to die once. And until I do, I want to live like I  mean it.

What you do next matters…

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