Life & death

Life and Death.
Death... The end of life... and the remembrance of those that shared a part of your life. Those that influenced your life, those that enriched your life. It breaks your heart to feel and see the loss of those that were important to you.
From an early age, I experienced the reality of death, watching, seeing, and being exposed to death as I saw three of my grandparents,  uncles & aunts, friends of the family, and even my own father pass away... many before the age of 10 and all by the time I was 18. Shortly thereafter, my last grandfather and my mother. So I was effectively the last survivor in my family.
So death was a very true reality in my life. As adulthood progressed,  friends and acquaintances passed away due to accidents or health tragedies.  Later after retiring at 50 years old and choosing full time rving as a lifestyle, we made lots of rving friends already retired at 65 or older... and as time progressed, we lost many of them to death. Death has never been a stranger... and although accustomed to living with death, somewhat desensitized, accepting the reality of death, its still not easy to accept loosing someone to death... even though it is a unbreakable reality. 
Knowing this, the longer you live, the more times you will witness and experience the death of friends and family. There is nothing you can do to avoid the death of those that enriched your life... except to say and remember how much they brought happiness to you while they were a part of your life. It doesn't make it any easier. All this made worse by watching someone slowly suffer and await death over a period if time, knowing that the final outcome is inevitable. Thinking of your own mortality as you get older there's a degree of acceptance... after all, there's nothing you can do about it, say having a healthier lifestyle. Remembering all the happy and joyous times in your life, and those that enriched your life by being a part of it. A life well lived being happy. Which from and early age was my life goal. Not to be rich... but to be happy in life. On this I have succeeded. I hope that everyone that lost someone, or is loosing someone, can find peace and joy in celebrating the life of those made their life worth living... filled with joy and happiness.  Wonderful memories of wonderful people.
Cherish each day... cherish those that are family and friends... for there is no escape from the inevitable reality of death. I can not imagine what it would be like to live into your 90s approaching 100, having witnessed the death of everyone you grew up with, family, friends, children, and even grand children. How many times can you heart break without feeling alone, a stranger in your current world, where everything and everyone you grew up with, and lived your life with is gone. Kinda makes you understand why so many people pass away once those that were most important to them are gone. Do they simply give up on life before their time? Idoeno. It's a bridge that most will not cross... living well into your 90s. A good thing or not? Again... life is what you make if it. Happiness is a state of mind as much as a physical aspect... perhaps even more so. But is there a point where acceptance of the reality of death of so many others, family & friends, gradually impacts your ability to have a happy life? Only time will tell, as the hourglass of our own life watches the sands to your time run out. Be happy today and tomorrow... for you don't know when your time will come to an end. Be happy and rejoice at your life and those that enriched it.
Peace and happiness. Thinking about my good friend Doug.