Sudden Death and Loss
The old saying, " When it's your time, it's your time", sometimes seems to apply. A sudden death or loss is hard to grasp, it is surreal. One minute they are vibrant and full of life, the next second, dead, forever. What a hard concept.
Death is to be expected due to old age, yet, it seems unduly unfair when a person who is 10, 17, 30, 50, dies, out of nowhere, with no warning. No clues. Yet, some believe the moment you are born you are given an end in the Book of Life. No matter how well you live, how healthy you are, the end is the end. We all know it will happen and the younger we are, the more unlikely it seems. The more unreal death is. It seems soooo remote. Yet, when a friend or love dies young, it is a wake-up call that none of us live forever, no matter how hard we try.
Take a local triathlete. She was 50. She had ran in many triathlons and trained for those in the near future. She had been running them for 10 years. She was in total shape. Yet, she died suddenly in her last triathlon. She had even ran in the Ironman, a grueling race where one runs, bikes and swims for long distances.
In this case, the woman was competing with 2300 others. Conditions were perfect. She was in the thick of it. Her daughters and husband watched from the shore as the first leg, a two mile swim. Everything was fine until one of the lifeguards rowing in a nearby kayak noticed her acting in distress. This was a mere five minutes after it had begun. In fact, the last family photo was snapped then. The lifeguard quickly pulled her to shore where resuscitation began. Her daughters and husband were in disbelief and shock as the horror unfolded before their eyes.
Can you imagine?
This triathlete was DOA at the scene. She had suffered a heart attack. There was no family history of this. No known medical conditions whatsoever. She was simply a very healthy person.
It is these kinds of deaths that are really irksome. They make no sense and seem such a waste. They are true wake-up calls for all of us, at any age, that death is always near, even when you are in perfect heath. It makes you wonder whether all the careful eating of the correct foods, getting exercise, living moderately, and if doctor's can really prevent it. She had done everything correct and had a recent physical exam. Yet, when her time was up, it was up. None of it seemed to matter. Her time on Earth was over.
Kinda scary.