Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon ...

Unfortunately, it’s a phrase we have learned to live with – unforgivably inadequate at its worst, intolerable at best.

Last week my friend lost his youngest brother – inexplicably, the baby of the family was gone. No warning, no heads-up, no moment to prepare for the heartache about to engulf an entire family.

The circumstances of that particular loss are of no consequence here – the only thing that matters is that someone of value has been lost forever to the living who cherished him. A young man, a vitally alive man – gone too soon.

The news of his passing made me think about all of those among us who have lost a friend, a neighbor, a companion, a classmate over the past few years – young men and women in their prime, all gone too quickly – before we could get together for that beer we promised to share, before we could clear our schedules to meet up at that place, you know the place, where we went that time and talked until dawn about you-know-who, and what they were up to, and what he said/she said about that thing that happened – and what we meant to each other, and why.

We have lost so many who were gone too soon; the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the firefighters and cops in NYC on 9/11, our fellow citizens in NOLA in the wake of Katrina – along with the tortured of body in Gitmo, the tortured of mind returning from service to our country, the tortured of spirit who could not live with what they had seen, what they had experienced, what they had done.

My friend’s brother was not a victim of any of the above – and yet his passing reminds me of those we have lost, and the incredible hardship borne by those family members and friends who live on, aware of the loss of a loved one every day of their existence.

Gone too soon. Gone before their true potential could be realized – gone before they had contributed all they could to their fellow man – even if that contribution was nothing more (nor less) than a beer shared between friends, and everything that sharing could have meant to someone who needed to share.

Godspeed, Terry – and Godspeed to all who have been lost too soon. We will meet you on the other side, and will be glad of your company when we get there.

Godspeed. Drinks on me.

Oh, so many, so many...

My brother in law, cut down by illness way too early ...

My grandmother, dead in an accident...

She was vibrantly healthy and no doubt would have lived many more years...

And one other who will undoubtedly be gone too soon...

I'll have that drink, and thank you...

:hug:

am ill myself. So I hope all the time that my husband won't have to suffer through a loss again too soon. Thank you for your wonderful, thoughtful, heartfelt post. There are a lot of beautiful ideas here for us to read and remember. It's a cliche, I know, but life is so very fleeting and so delicate and so tenuous.

he was 43 and a wonderful person.

again i'm sorry to hear of this loss. :(

:hug:

I lost my wife Donna last week and in the last year lost three close friends.

Those who never got the chance... their deaths are especially poignant. I have known a few in my time.

Peace to you and to Terry's family and friends. :hug:

Dad lost his uncle last week - farming accident. They were close in age and grew up together like brothers. He would have lived longer, but he did die doing what he loved.

Considering my troubles and his death, I really need that drink, thanks!

:beer: