I still remembered the day it happened. It was March 30, 2000 when my aunt passed away. She has been suffering from Leukemia and when she was first diagnosed, she was already at the terminal stage. There was nothing much we could do. I didn’t get to see her for the last time.
The passing away of my aunt is not exactly my first experience with death. I’ve been to funerals of my great grandmother and my granduncle years before my aunt died. However, this experience was different. Her death was like a slap on my face — a huge slap. It was like a wake up call. I sorta had a mini enlightenment. That experience blew me away.
Life is so short. It’s so short it’s unbelievable. It goes away just like that. When my aunt died, she was only 59. Assuming if I die at her age, I only have a mere 32 years before I die. Only 32 years? When my aunt died, I realized I hadn’t been living my life to the fullest. I realized I didn’t know what I was doing with those 18 years that has passed. I told myself I had to change and I want to change. I want to change to become a more appreciative person. I want to live my life to the fullest. I want to live a life without any regrets. I want to tell the people I love how I feel about them now, and not at the very last minute when things are just a little too late.
I’m not perfect. I’m nowhere near perfect. I still whine every now and then when I know whining doesn’t help a bit in making things better. But I know for one that I’m being more and more appreciative to the people whom I love. Life is really too short. Life is not about the money, the fame or the status. Life is about the people we love, the family who means the world to us despite the craziness they can create, that one guy who’s your everything. It’s all about that. To me that is.
I want to live my life like how Morrie did as written by Mitch Albom in the book Tuesdays with Morrie. I thought Morrie has learned the lesson of life since the very start. He understands perfectly well what’s important in life. Although he has certain regrets, but he has lived his life to the fullest I’m sure. I wonder how many of us could have learned to live like him.
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