Those Annoying Platitudes and Their Basis in Reality

You know how when something terrible happens to someone you know, you suddenly remember that life is short and can turn on a dime and you need to live for each moment and not waste your time on the small shit?

But then, the initial trauma wears off and you go back to your regular life, putting things off, forgetting to show the people closest to you how important they are, not taking action on the big changes because they just seem like exhausting and unbreakable hurdles.

Well, quit it.

A childhood friend of my sister's was just diagnosed with ALS and given a prognosis of six months to two years. He wrote to her:

"I am lucky to know how I am going to die."

I suppose he is, no surprises in store for him. He knows how, approximately when, and exactly why. Though not, I suppose, Why.

He's 42, third in line of four brothers. I knew them all growing up - they lived down the street. He was my sister's prom date, 1986. On that spring night, I came over to see them off. She was beautiful in ivory lace and pearls; he, dashing in a black tux. They had been friends forever, nothing more, and they set off to the prom, a golden couple. He eventually moved to the west coast, did well, lived happy, and I knew nothing more of him until last night, when my sister shared with me his beautiful message to her. He is facing his imminent mortality bravely, it seems.

Me? I'm a wreck. It's just so fucking not fair I can hardly stand it.

All that crap about dancing in rain puddles and making lemons out of lemonade sounds like such ridiculous platitudes, but really, it is all very accurate. When a tragic diagnosis comes, all the puddle dancing in the world won't change it, but why let a life pass by without taking advantage of all the possibilities? Because they are there.

I hate all that preachy shit, but really. It's true.