"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one."

A dear friend of mine died on Friday. I knew this man for ten years, he was my husband's closest friend of twenty years. He introduced my husband to me and acquired his notary license in order to marry us in 2005. He was a remarkable man who has been in our lives for many events, and now he is gone. I believe the quote below from Lemony Snicket's book Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, sums up how I felt about his death.

"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

Remember how short life is and that there are no do-overs in death. In the famous words of Mark Twain,
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

My dear friend, you will be truly missed by all who were lucky enough to know you.

---