My Mum isn’t a spring chicken.  She has reached the age where death is incorporated into her everyday dialogue.  These days when I catch up with her I am unable to avoid the dreaded rundown of who is sick and who has died.  These stories are usually about people that I have never met and a large portion she has never met either.  But they all have a back story that she feels the need to share and in her own way she is delivering a life message with every tradegy told.

And this weekend was no exception.  This week’s story of death was about a friend who hadn’t seen her neighbour for a while and last week bumped into him in the street.  She asked him how he was and he replied that he was on his way to the pharmacy as he wasn’t feeling very well.  Apparently he collapsed in the pharmacy and died.  He was 41 years old.

Normally I would thank Mum for the depressing news and tease her for bringing sunshine into my day.  But this time her story brought tears to my eyes.  One minute this man was walking to his local pharmacy and the next minute he was fighting for his life, and ultimately lost.

Thanks Mum for the not so subtle reminder that life is precious.

We are here now.  Live in the present.  Enjoy every minute.