Live for Today

With the New Year upon us, we have time to reflect and ponder both where we missed, and affirm where we will move forth this next year.  The Tao says, “This is the moment of embarking.  All auspicious signs are in place.”

Planning is a wonderful exercise, and helps us all as individuals and coaches to build, set goals and mark achievements.  I was reminded yesterday that the signs in place are not always what we want to see.  That life is fragile, and we are guaranteed no tomorrows.

I was 16 when I met Rory, and her family.  A three year old with an infectious smile and soulful eyes, who could pronounce my name only as “Keek”.  I grew close to the family babysitting throughout my time in high school.  The she and her sister often got the best of me, and I can recall one evening, waking, book folded on my chest, as the girls giggled, when mom and dad returned home.  It seemed I was the only one who had fallen asleep during the bedtime story.

With time, came separation and change.  Nearly six years ago, I had reconnected with the family, through the older sister Courtney.  Courtney had become the glue that helped to bind the family which now was living in several states.

I received word yesterday that Rory had perished in a house fire, as she slept.  She was a recent college graduate about to begin a new life as a school teacher this week.  At 23, I am troubled that any higher power could exist and feel this was her time.  Tragedies occur every day, we often feel immune until they come to our front door.  I am told that regardless of how much experience one has with sudden death, it always feels the same.

With this New Year, and for Rory, I am affirming to live a better life.  I cannot dwell on the past and its misfortunes for that is history and cannot be undone.  I cannot control the future, and so I will rid myself of its worries and anxieties.  The present is about all I can control, if I can at all.  So I will live for today.  To my little BFF “Rorkey”, you will be missed, but never forgotten.

All one can hope for is the opportunity each day to live, and with that life do something great.  My former principal, who also met a tragic end, would end each days announcements with “Learn something today”.  I hope to continue that mission and, for Rory, I want only to add to it, to “Do something today”.  In 2010, I will live each day like it is my last.  Not with abandon, but with passion.  This year, I will live in the present and be grateful for it.   You will be missed my friend, but your spirit will live on in so many you have touched.