They have a way of causing one to think about their own life.  It makes people consider or reconsider whether they are living life to the fullest or simply skating thru while making little effort to ever change.

Recently, hubby got some very sad news about a friend.  This friend tragically lost their life.  A spouse has been left alone to raise their children.  These children have lost a parent.  Parents have lost their child.  Siblings have lost a sibling.  Friends have lost a friend.

I have lost all my grandparents.  Hubby lost his father at a very young age.  He lost his mother several years ago.  He lost his step-father (the only father he really knew) a few years later.  Without question, the most difficult loss in our lives was losing our son 6 1/2 years ago.  The numbness of that loss has taken a lot of time to begin to wear off, although I  question whether or not it will completely go away.  His death changed us in so many ways and the impact of losing our son continues to change us.

So when one of us gets tragic news about the death of someone we know, especially someone gone way too young, it stops us in our tracks.  It makes us re-evaluate our lives.  It causes us to seriously question if we are living our most authentic life or if we’re simply skating thru.

Life’s casualties shake our world and our world has been shaken.  The question now is, what we do from here?  Do you go backwards or continue to move forward?  Do we change direction or stay the course?  Do we give up or keep fighting?  Do we crumble or stay strong?

Loss is certainly not easy.  Unfortunately, it is a reality of life and in this loss we reflect on our own life and what is truly important.

As much as we may want to, we can’t change what has happened but . .

We can learn to love more deeply.

We can strive to appreciate the life we have.

We can make different choices to change our future and make this world a better place.

We can live our most authentic life.

We can be the change we wish to see in the world (Gandhi).