As I sit here at my desk and let my mind wander I am filled with such sadness, yet an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness.  You may wonder how I can be feeling both of these emotions at the same time.

Today, I attended the funeral of a young man that was a friend of my son's.

I heard about this young man's passing the other day and was extremely saddened, not only for my son's loss, but for what this parents must be going through.

As fate would have it, the young man that passed from this world too soon, was the son of a friend of mine.

I never put two and two together when my son would talk about his friend, we never spoke of the young man's last name.

I attended the celebration of his life today and expressed my sorrow to his family.

As a mother, I can't even fathom the grief that my friend and her family is experiencing and going through.

I admired her as she stood there and greeted the well-wishers through tears and laughter.

She truly is an amazing mother, woman and friend.

My son also attended the service with some of the young man's friends.

After hugging my son goodbye and leaving him with his friends at the church, I realized how grateful I am that I got to hug my son today.  My friend will never get to hug her son, again.

Something the pastor said during the service, is still ringing in my ears.

"Let this not be just the day that our friend died, let this be the day that we appreciate life, our family, friends and love ones."  "Life is precious, let today remind us of that."

I had to come back to my office, but as soon as I got into the car, I called my husband and my daughter to tell them how much I loved them.

Life is precious, tell those you care about how much you love them.

 

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