Too Soon Gone

I was on call this weekend which means I'm limited in the things I can accomplish outside of my home. While at the hospital waiting for clearance to admit a "critical" patient I rummaged through my purse and found my Ralph Waldo Emerson book. I bought it and started reading it a while back with the intent of actually reading the books that house my favorite quotes instead of just having the quotes. I'm learning there are several quotable things in his book.

It has taken a while for me to get very far because of the depth of thought required to really "get" his writings. I finally finished the first section and it talked about how we build our own worlds (or we should) and the things that will go away if we seek to conform our lives with the pure life in our minds. This led me to evaluate my picture of a pure life and whether I am building toward that life or just letting life happen. I'm still working on the list, but I'll just say there's a lot of work to be done.

Last night I found out that a kid I worked with during one of my internships died last week. He would have been 19 in about a week. I don't know details. I'd like to think he was clean and his death was an accident. He was an important person to me in the time our paths crossed. It's a sad thing and his family is in my prayers.

It just made me even more grateful for the opportunity to evaluate, wake up, and realign my life in the way that is best for me. Today I'm glad for another day to try again.