As Friday draws near...

Friday is the Funeral.
As the day comes closer, it feels more real.
I miss my grandma.
I miss my nino.
I miss my cousin Tracy.
I miss my grandpa.
Now I add to the list.
I miss my nina.
The people I was closest to.
The people I love.
It feels like they were taken too soon.
There wasn't enough time for me to really know them
Take every opportunity to know someone.
Don't be afraid to ask a question.
Ask.
Use the answer wisely and cherish it.
I miss my nina.
I miss my grandma.
I miss my nino.
I miss my cousin Tracy.
I miss my granpa.

Good Bye...

Saying good bye is hard to do, even when it is just for a little away. Its even harder when you know that it's the last time you'll ever say good bye to someone.

What do you do? Do you say all the things you want to say? Do you say what you think they want to hear? I say, less is more. The simplest of words can mean so much. Saying "Hi" to someone with a smile can drastically change a persons day.

So what do you say to someone when you know it is going to be the last time you see them? You tell them just how you feel in as few words as you can. Its very simple. There are three words that mean so much. They tell a person just how much you care about them. It tells them that no matter how they have made you feel in the past that you forgive them. These little words can change a persons outlook on life. They can say so much more then you want to, and better.

That's exactly how I felt last weekend when I went to Fresno. I knew it would be the last time I saw my aunt. I knew it was our last good bye. A smile. A hug. I love you.

Forever she will be with my nino, my cousin Tracy, my aunt Mary, my grandma, my grandpa, and my baby brother Matthew. In our memories. In our hearts. In our love.

Change..

Sometimes life throws a curve ball. We want life to turn out a certain way, the way we want it to be. Yet, change happens. Change is the curveball. Our lives are no longer the way we want it to be. Change happens because a failed relationship, death that has taken a love one away, someone close and dear to you decides to enlist, or simply we grow up. We grow up and we learn that we can't always have it our way.

Sometimes when we do things the way we want to everything falls apart, or so it seems. Nothing ever seems to go our way. We try too hard to make it last, to make it work, that we end up pushing that person away. We don't want our family and friends to die, especially when it comes too early. We want so badly for them to not enlist, yet we want them to be happy that we support their decision. Yet, when we finally let go of this need to control everything to control our lives and the lives of those around us we are free. Free to experience life as it should be, by letting the pieces fall into place.


Soon the unexpected begins to happen.


It seems life begins to fall into place. You grow from lost relationships and learn from your mistakes. After losing someone after a long battle with cancer or some other disease or an unexpected accidet, you find that you grow closer to others. Life is thrown into perspective for you. You realize just how short life is that you decide to embrace every opportunity thrown at you, whether its pizza with this guy, helping someone in need, or simply being there for someone. Through support of your enlistee you grow closer, appreciate each other more. The most important thing is to not live a life of regret, but embrace every opportunity as if its the last.