When the Sun Sets

For the past few weeks I've been looking death directly in the face. It's sort of been in the air. I've watched families mourn, children lose their parents, mother's lose their children and needless to say it's been sad. Death leaves an eerie feeling on the souls that are still living because we begin to truly conceptualize that our lives replicate that of an hour glass. No one wants to forget that the present is a gift and as hard as one tries to remain peaceful in nature, kiss the kids before they walk out the door, and spread love at all times, in all actuality we're only human. As humans we carry the weight of the world and that's a heavy burden to bear. I constantly have to remind myself the importance of living in the now. Especially, when I find myself outlining a plan for two or three years down the line. I might not be afforded that much more time here. This idea of "Living everyday like it's your last", is pretty easy to understand yet it's often difficult to execute because who really wants to die? I don't want to die. Does that mean I want to live forever? Not exactly, I'd actually settle for old age :-). I believe in the "Bucket List", and I think that all of us should be clear not only on what we want from this life experience but also what we would like to do before we make our grand exit. My writing will remain in the world when I'm gone and for those that know me and even for those that don't a sense of who I was will always remain on these pages. My writing has enabled me to leave my imprint in the world that I enjoyed living in immensely. I'm extremely satisfied with that. It brings me great peace. Traveling to Europe would be at the top of my bucket list for a few reasons. One has to travel the world to really grasp the journey and even more so to appreciate it. To have the full experience of life one has to leave their comfort zone and submerge in different culture. The world looks different to us all.

Knowing that life is a blessing makes it easy for us to appreciate family and friends in the same light. Knowing that each day is a precious gift should motivate us to shape our lives and push harder toward our goals. The idea of putting things off until tomorrow should be removed from our thought process. Life is inevitably what we make it and we grow up learning this to a certain extent but never in its entirety. Girls grow up looking forward to fairytale weddings, while Boys grow up wanting to be an All-Star. The message that often isn't clear is how important it is to just Live and Love. Living will have a different meaning for each individual person. What living is to me most certainly won't be what living is to you. The common ground is doing everything you want to do here in an unstoppable manner. The cycle is, "When you fall, you get up", and the key to that cycle is learning to get up quickly. When it comes to a broken heart the quickest way to heal is to let go of the person who broke it quickly. The world circulates at a pace that doesn't give us too much time to lay dormant. The quicker we let go of things that cause us pain, the quicker we free ourselves and get back to our true nature. Any negativity we harbor generates itself as more negativity in our lives. When we lose a loved one along the way we often have to push harder toward attaining what we want because it becomes that much clearer that we are working on a limited timeline. We have to push through the pain of grief quickly by allowing ourselves a brief period to mourn. We can never get stuck in the mourning process because in return it would kill us. We have to bask in the memories of the person that has passed, and we have to be mindful that the sun will set for us one day as well.

Here is my advice. Live your life in a loving fashion that circulates and promotes laughter and peace in return. Never stop giving thanks when you wake up to see another day because it honestly didn't have to come. Always believe in the world that you live in even when it gets cold (even more when it gets cold). Try your very best never to hold grudges (people don't always make this easy). Always keep in mind that they are human and that are entitled to feel however they feel about you. Let them go today and wish anyone that has wronged you Love & Light and hopefully they will wish you the same in return if you have wronged them. When we allow people to hurt us continuously, we let them know that they are more important to us than we are to ourselves. Love the people that love you back and try your best never to take them for granted. Because they will always be in your corner and they will always be first up at bat for you. I Love you all and I'd like to share this story with you...

At 7:13 a.m. on September 30, 2011 I texted a friend that will never have the opportunity to text me back. What I was unaware of at the time that I sent the text was that he was shot and killed around 11:30 p.m. on September 29, 2011. He was 30 years-old at the time of death and he leaves behind two beautiful daughters, plus family & friends that will miss him dearly. I saw him 4 days before he was killed. We talked, we hugged and he said, "B, I got mad love for you". His spirit was filled with love every single time that I saw him. He never let it show when he was down on his luck. He just continued to spread love with the people in his life right up until the very end. Why did he go so early? I'll never be able to answer that question.

~In Loving Memory of Donald Rose~

Much Luv