Life and death

It's such a weird phenomenon - going from something to nothing in an instant. I've spent the last couple days thinking about someone that I didn't know extremely well... asking questions about a Grander Plan and freak occurrences in this thing that we call life.

I went to high school with Kim - we weren't friends, but we were more than acquaintances. Though we weren't related, we actually had a couple family members in common and sometimes we would talk about those people that we knew. We were in the same choir and during the time that I was on the diving team, she was on the swimming team. But there was nothing really out of the ordinary about us - we walked the same halls and we shared some of the same experiences that you share with anyone that goes to the same school at the same time, but that was about it.

Because of our familial relationship, I had the chance to keep up on her life after graduation a little more than I did with some people. Just recently, I had started reading her blog (blogs being one of those things that keep people who normally wouldn't have kept in touch in each other's lives - if even just in a voyeuristic way). She had made some enormous changes in her life since high school. She had recently lost quite a bit of weight, gotten married, and was starting her own business. It sounded as if she were somewhat unsettled in her 'role in life', as many of us twenty-somethings are at times and it was interesting to read about her daily thoughts, struggles and accomplishments. I never posted on her blog - I doubt that she knew that I read it. But I still kept up with her from post to post.

On Friday night, she and her husband - on their way to meet family in Kansas - were killed by a tornado. From the articles that I've read, they stopped along the side of the road to wait out some hard rain that they had encountered a little before 11pm. They stopped in the wrong spot. A few minutes later, a powerful tornado swept up their car and threw it 150 yards from the road. You can read about the story here, here and here.

When something like this happens, I think that it's pretty natural to evaluate your own life. I've been struck by the thought that they (both close to my own age) were too young to die. Of course, this is a dumb thought - as there's no 'coming of age' for death. Still though, the whole thing seems unfair.

We live in an uncertain world - full of risks and dangers, which are sometimes completely unknown. A higher power, destiny, fate - (whatever your beliefs and whatever you call it) controls the things that we can't. I've mentioned before that I do try to put faith in a Grander Plan... and though it's impossible to do at times, it can bring comfort at others.

My thoughts and prayers are with Kim's and Gary's families and friends. I can't imagine how I would react to something like that happening to a close loved one of mine. I'm pretty sure that I would be inconsolable. I hope that they can find peace in their minds and hearts - someway. I take comfort in the fact that Kim and Gary were together when it happened... and I hope, for their sakes, that the ordeal was quick, painless, and fear-free. I choose to think that it was.

As for the questions that I've been pondering the past couple days, I'm nowhere closer to answers. But, I do know that I'm taking time to hug more often and a little more tightly. It's a small thing to take from something so tragic, but it's something.