Life is Short...

Things happen life,that sometimes we will never understand. Like death. We all know it's coming, but most of us, put that thought away in a little place, not easily accessed. Most of us, don't think too much about it, until it lays itself on our doorstep, waiting to come in.

I have been lucky in my life. In that I have not had to deal with tragedies that befall so many people, that you see everyday on the news. People missing, people abducted, people killed, either by accident or not. I am lucky. No one close to me, has ever had anything bad happen to them. We have been for the most part (with the exception of the loss of my grandmother more than 20 years ago) and uneventful family, and yes I am knocking wood as I write this.

My friend, my very first friend in Florida has not had the same luck. She is a petite woman with long blonde hair, and an infectious laugh and smile. When I met her, I knew she was in a unhappy marriage, and she stayed as long as she could finally divorcing about two years ago. While she left with her two kids, she remains comfortable, and that is rare these days considering divorce. But money doesn't make everything ok. Hard times were always close, keeping her company, and her family difficulties were many. She has a great big southern family, and they are very tight.

After her father took his life last year, I was not sure that anything worse could happen.

I was wrong.

Her brother was murdered on Saturday evening, a part of a wild rampage that a very sick woman went on, brutalizing and killing her own grandmother, and then killing Willie.

He has been to my restaurant. He was a fun loving guy, who loved to bet on football, and fish on my husband's boat, any boat for that matter. He would have never hurt a flea. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes, life turns out differently than what we thought, or planned or wanted.

If you get to live every day without personal tragedy, count yourself lucky. Life is short. Make sure you tell those who matter, that you love them. Everyday. You never know when they might not make it back.