Suddenly Gone

My friend's brother died on Tuesday. He had a stroke while driving and crashed his car. His partner survived; fortunately, no one else got injured. Small mercies.

He was one of those "larger than life" people. He reminded me (and no doubt many others) of John Belushi in the movie, The Blues Brothers: a portly fellow with a porkpie hat who played the blues harmonica. He was at all of his sister's parties, leading the band made up of his nephews and other young musicians. He smoked, he probably drank and ate to excess and stayed up late at night.

He was in his mid-fifties and full of life.

And now, suddenly, he is gone.

His death makes me want to stress less, go for long walks, eat and drink with both enjoyment and moderation, kiss my husband and kids and celebrate the fact that I'm still here on this beautiful earth.