Carpe Diem

We've all heard "seize the day" before. But I don't think the majority of people in this world ever really do that.

Recently I found out that a young man I graduated with drowned.

I wasn't close friends with him, but I did know him, since elementary school. And I ate the smarties his Mom brought in to our class in 5th grade to do well on the standardized tests.

I don't know the circumstances of his passing, more than what I've already said, except that it was in a river by the college he was attending down in PA. I can't remember the last time I talked to him. I wasn't even friends with him on Facebook.

So why, might I ask, would this be so weird for me? Why do I feel the need to check on his friends' websites everyday to make sure they're okay? Why do I get freaked out by rain and water and pools and swimming?

This death was sudden. Tragic. Horrifying. Totally unexpected and completely painful for all parties involved. How could Chris have known that when he woke up that day he'd never again fall asleep? How could his mother have known her oldest son would not return from school, ever? Or that the past Thanksgiving was his last?

After I found out about this tradegy, I jumped online to find some "Seize the Day" quote of wisdom to put up as my Facebook status. (Kind of lame, I realize... but nonetheless, the truth, and this blog is all about honesty, so deal with it.) What I found is that most of them were too blunt to publicize to a world of close friends who were in the midst of shock, pain, and grief. But I really liked some of them, and decided to record them here for future reference. May they encourage you, oh reader from cyberspace, to truly seize each precious day.

"Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for the wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting." -Dr. Suess

"Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think." - Chinese Proverb

"Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways." -Stephen Vincent Benet

"I find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see." - John Burroughs

"Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses?" - David Brin

"You may delay, but time will not. " - Ben Franklin

"Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference." - Mignon McLaughlin

"There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love - There is only one To-day." -Joaquin Miller

"Life is always walking up to us and saying, "Come on in, the living's fine," and what do we do? Back off and take its picture." - Russell Baker

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" - Stephen Levine

"Only that day dawns to which we are awake." -Henry David Thoreau