Coming of Age

My heart is very heavy this week over the death of a friend's father. He was 57 and lost a battle with cancer. There have been very few times in my life when I’ve had a friend lose their parent, and I think the magnitude of the situation really hits you.

It’s more common at our age to lose a grandparent, which is hard enough to deal with but somewhat easier to accept given the fact that we were fortunate enough to have them in our lives for more than two decades. But while we grieve for the loss of our grandparents, our parents grieve over the loss of their mom and dad.

To be put in that situation at 28 or even younger is a hard, hard thing to comprehend. It’s like it immediately pushes you into adulthood, whether you like it or not.

I know you can never truly realize how short life is until you’re faced with the loss of a loved one who was taken too soon. It has a way of making you reevaluate your life and what is important to you.

My thoughts and prayers are with my friend and her family this week more than she will ever know.