Someone created an image that depicts what I’ve felt since Shayna passed. I found this image on Facebook where the poster linked it to how we are all waiting in line to go back Home. We know this intellectually, but we forget it. We get caught up in the day-to-day of life, and we set aside the knowledge we all have an expiration date. More importantly, we think that if we are young and healthy and maybe wealthy, we have more time than someone else. Old, sick people die. I’m young and healthy. I have a long time. In spite of this delusion, there is no guarantee of a long life for any of us. We’re all in this line. It is invisible to the human eye so we can’t see the order or the length of the queue. Some live for a few hours. Some live for 100 years or more. Young healthy people, like Shayna, go suddenly. Sickly people, like Anita Moorjani, make miraculous recoveries.
It’s cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason. Live each day as if you don’t know how many more you have left. I’m not recommending living each day as if it’s your last. We have obligations. We have to plan just in case we’re around tomorrow and the day after that. We can’t all fly off to an island. However, don’t take it for granted that an endless number of days stretch out ahead of you. Tell those around you that you love them- today. Show them appreciation- today. Be kind to yourself- today. Do something that will make you proud in your life review- today.
If life is hard and you’re looking forward to going Home, know that your turn at the front of the line is coming, no matter how far away it might seem now. One day you’ll get there. Every day you move up further in the queue.
p.s.- when I was looking for the creator of this image to give credit, I found it had been used mostly to depict alien abductions. I don’t know what the artist’s intention was. It’s fascinating how we can look at a piece of art and see completely different things. Credit where credit is due; I’m pretty sure the creator is: Logan Zillmer.
