What first comes to mind when I hear this phrase is of course Kevin Bacon in “Footloose”. Now it takes on a new context, and vision for me. On February 4, 2012, one of my closest friends passed away from pancreatic cancer. It happened extremely quickly, about 4 weeks from the time she found out. I guess I should be happy that it happened this way, and she didn’t suffer too much. Being purely selfish I wanted to have time with her. Rose went totally private, and I never had the opportunity to talk with her or say goodbye. In her situation, I may have done that same just wanting to be surrounding by my family.
Rose and I were double trouble from the minute we met. She was a store manager at a new store that was opening, and I was the operations manager who came out to get her store set up, and worked there with them for 2 weeks. We clicked, and werepeas in a pod even after I went back to my store, which was just 60 miles away. We got together when we could, and at company meetings and conventions we laughed and laughed, and had such a great time.
We were with each other in good and bad times. Even when we both left the company, we got together and had fun! she was soo excited to become a grandma for the first time ( a young grandma…), and a few years later a second time.
Rose had been dealt some bad hands in life, but she met them all with a smile and energy that lit up the room. She had a rare blood disease (that would not be what would be her death, and she always found that funny) and had to take these horrific shots every month that she was in such pain for days. She had a bad first marriage, issues from her childhood, but she never ever let any of that bring her down. If only we all could take a lesson from her…
I am not new to losing someone. My mother passed in 1999 suddenly. I have lost aunts and uncles, and a cousin. This was my first friend, and it felt different. Rose is only a couple years older than I am. I think it made me feel your time can be up at anytime.
Live your life as if it were your last. Love the ones around you. And be sure to laugh and dance as much as possible.
