Losing a Friend Taught me to Live in the Present
Sometimes we get so caught up in life that we miss the things that truly matter. Recently, a friend of mine passed away. Her name was Tessie. She was 94 years old. I had known her for over 40 years. She saw me through over half of my life. I could always depend on her to be there for me no matter what happened in my life. She always listened and always gave me sound advice. One of the things I admired about her was that she lived each day doing the things she enjoyed. One of her favorite things to do was watching western movies. I would often call her and she would be enjoying one of her westerns. Although she was up in age, she still was able to drive herself to church every Sunday. I rarely heard her say she had a bad day. She always took life as it came, day by day. She laughed a lot and took aging in stride. I always knew that the day would come when I would have to say good bye to her, but I always believed we had just a little more time. The last conversation I had with her she said she wasn’t feeling too well, but she said it was nothing serious. She lived alone in another state so I asked her to see about getting a home health aid to check on her a couple of days a week, but she was having none of that. She said she would be staying in her home until God called her home. A couple of days later, I got a call from her sister that Tessie passed away. I cannot explain the grief that I experienced since that day. My mom passed away years ago, and Tessie filled that void for me. I remember asking her sister “what am I going to do without my Tessie?” It seems like a piece of my heart died with her.
What I learned from this wonderful woman is that live each day as it comes. She ate the things she wanted, and would even have a cocktail sometime. She lived her life in the present. I just think that we sometime think we will have time someday to do things we don’t take time to do in the present. I think you should live your life everyday doing the things that make you happy. Don’t let the noise from this world steal your joy of life. Enjoy the food you want and surround yourself with people that make you laugh like Tessie did for me, and you should try to be that person for someone else. I miss Tessie so very much, and I just wish we had more time. I realize now that she left me so many happy memories that I will never forget. Because of her, I really know how important it is to truly enjoy each and every day of your life, because you never know when God will call you home.
What I learned from this wonderful woman is that live each day as it comes. She ate the things she wanted, and would even have a cocktail sometime. She lived her life in the present. I just think that we sometime think we will have time someday to do things we don’t take time to do in the present. I think you should live your life everyday doing the things that make you happy. Don’t let the noise from this world steal your joy of life. Enjoy the food you want and surround yourself with people that make you laugh like Tessie did for me, and you should try to be that person for someone else. I miss Tessie so very much, and I just wish we had more time. I realize now that she left me so many happy memories that I will never forget. Because of her, I really know how important it is to truly enjoy each and every day of your life, because you never know when God will call you home.