Brevity

Life is short.  Fleeting.

If you blink, you might miss it.  It might come right in front of your eyes and without even knowing, you might miss the opportunity that has been given to you.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t wait for the good things.  But sometimes we miss many of the opportunities along the way because we don’t take time when they present themselves.

Life is pretty short.

- - - - - 

His name was Frank. 

I don’t know him other than a brief encounter.  He has ALS.  If you don’t know what that is, it sometimes referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  It takes your voice, your motor skills, it takes your life.

Frank was out walking his two dogs.  He’s silver haired and has a huge smile.  Unfortunately, my first experience with Frank was seeing him fall.  From across the lake where we were sitting, I saw him tumble and fall hard onto the rough trail.  I ran.  Harder than I’ve ran in a long time.  I saw him try to get back up and fall again.

By the time we reached him, he was unstable, but still fighting to stand.  He wanted to get up.  To keep walking.  But with the back of his head cut and bleeding from the fall, and his instability, we forced him to stop, to collect himself and to sit.  He couldn’t speak, and we had to communicate through rough sign language and him typing messages on his phone.  He still wants to live.  Even with this fall, he just wanted to be able to be free and to walk.  To be as normal as possible.  His eyes told me that.

We walked him to his house, which was just down the trail.  We found some neighbors and were able to get him into the hands of people who knew him.  Reluctantly we walked away.

I doubt I will ever see Frank again.  I feel confident that he’s ok.  But he left his mark on me.  Even fighting a debilitating disease, he just wanted to take his dogs for a walk.  To be normal.  To live.

And so I’m here.  Amidst my own struggles, I want to continue to breathe, to walk.  To find those who bring me life and joy.  To fill my days with as much of the energy Frank showed in those brief moments.

Brevity.

It’s gone before we’ve even really lived if we’re not careful.


"Life Moves Pretty Fast" CLICK TO SEE