I keep up w/my triathlon friends/family AND track/log my workouts on a site called www.beginnertriathlete.com. Its cool…a community and a fun way to 'inspire' and encourage each other. Its one of those things that you can read your friends' blogs and then click on their friends to read their workouts, etc. One day in late June I found a BTer named "Lucy" and began reading her log…she had just done her 1st half Ironman in Florida JUST LIKE ME! We had done the same race…very cool! As I read her log I followed her story of how she was having unexplainable numbness and confusion…it was scary seeing her words as she logged…she was scared and didnt know what was happening. By early July she was admitted to surgery to do exploratory brain surgery (they suspected tumor) and she died.
Just like that.
Gone.
She did the same race I did…she trained just like me. She was a wife and a mother. And now, she's gone.
I've continued to check her blog bc many BTers leave comments regularly w/their memories and thoughts. Cool tribute…and an amazing reminder of my mortality. But more than anything FOR ME – having not really known Lucy at all – I am reminded how precious every single moment is while I'm here on this earth. Every one.
This week has been weird for me. Lots of 'testing' I'm feeling (most of it I feel like I'm probably failing!)…frustration…feeling overwhelmed. I know who it is that tries to "steal, kill, and destroy" in my life – but I still feel so subjected to it. I get too inwardly focused and try to control it all.
And then I was reminded TODAY – when I needed it the most – of 'Lucy'. When my day comes, will others be able to say "she lived every moment of her life to the fullest…she made a difference". Wow. What a thought. We can get so caught up that we think we're immune…we're not. It could be me.
And so, I ask you to take 5 minutes and listen to Lucy's story…its a cool one. And after you do, I challenge you to not take this day for granted. I wont. Its a moment by moment battle…I dont want to let satan steal, kill, and destroy ANY of my life…
Go HERE and click on the BT podcast to hear Lucy's story…
Wow, Kris. What a sad thing to have happen. The temporariness of life is something that I’ve had to learn to deal with in the last few years. I can’t tell you how many young women in my support group have died this year – it’s in the double digits…
I agree, EVERY single moment is precious.
(And thank you for the link. I’m going to be working on that this weekend…)