Carpe Diem!
I don't want to be all dreary and depressing, but as of late I've been doing a lot of thinking. This past Tuesday was the one year anniversary of my good friend Derek's passing. He was only 21 when he passed - he died in a car wreck.
To add to all my pondering about life, something else happened this week that again, makes me want to live my life to the fullest. (and no, I'm not talking about this week's episode of Grey's!) This past weekend when I was doing the Mardi Gras scene in Alexandria, we started chatting it up with one of the officers who was on duty near where we were on the parade route. We had a great time talking to him, chatting it up, joking around, trying to guess his age, and all that good stuff. Obviously we were not best friends with this man, but we had fun with him and talked about him a few times when we were recapping the weekend. Come to find out that a mere two days after we met him, the officer passed away from a car crash, the same day to the year, that Derek did.
All of you are probably wondering why the heck I care so much about a man I knew for about an hour. Well, it's not really so much because I'm going to feel a huge void because of the officer's death. More that both him and Derek were SO young and I feel so awful for their families. The officer has three children left behind, and Derek, his parents behind because his sister died about five years before him at age 18, also in a car wreck.
When I think about all of this I realize how lucky I am to be here, with all of my family and friends surrounding me, including a pretty great life. It teaches me that every day I need to live my life to the fullest, and count my blessings because I have many to count. I would encourage everyone else to do the same because life is beautiful!
I'll leave you with words from Derek himself:
"...talk to someone how you are feeling, open a door for a stranger, drink a beer and get out there and enjoy yourseleves. It's a celebration!"
Check ya laaaaaaaater,
-Jenn
