During Sam's football match at the weekend, we got word that one of the other dads - who hadn't attended that morning, though his child was on the pitch playing - had died suddenly of a heart attack.
I feel like I ought to write about this, but I don't know how. I've known the dad in question for the past five years or so, only really to say hi to or have a quick chat with, nothing more... but getting that news, in that moment, it really shook me. Yet it feels wrong to talk about my own reaction given what his wife and children must be dealing with right now, and will have to deal with from now on.
My heart goes out to them, not that that'll make any difference.
I tried to think of a song to accompany this post, and this was the only thing I came up with.
We are getting to the age when this just starts happening, aren't we? Guy I play five-a-side with just wasn't there one week - like your friend, he'd dropped down dead with a heart attack, leaving two grown-up sons. Another of the footy crowd had a stroke before 50, so serious he nearly died. And then there's Mark, that I wrote about recently. It certainly gives pause for thought, doesn't it? It could all be over tomorrow. Makes you appreciate what you've got and, as Andy Dufresne tells us, to get busy living.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess so. Frightening though.
DeleteYes, very much so.
DeleteMy best friend from elementary school all the way through my mid-20s passed away a few years ago... 20 years of a close friendship... and formative years at that. We had lost touch with each other to the point that I didn't know he was gone until well after his death. Even though I had not seen him in many years, it hit me hard. I still think about him quite a bit. I just always assumed we would find each other at some point. I'm quite sure we would have picked up right where we left off. We are all on the clock. Not reaching out is a huge regret. I'm not going to get preachy except to say there is a lesson there.
ReplyDeleteLater this year, I'm attending a reunion for people who worked at the radio station where I spent a good 20 years of my life. I wasn't initially going to go as reunions aren't my thing (and I didn't go to the lasty one)... but then it hit me that some of the folks I worked with are no longer with us, and this might be my last chance to see some of the others. Maybe that's just something we learn when we pass a certain age.
Delete