The test begins now….

This morning I’m thinking about lots of things.

Some of them don’t matter all that much:
…it’s Friday the 13th and the moon is full
…will the ice keep me from attending day 2 of the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions?
…will the omelet I just made taste as good as it looks?
…will Wayne Coyne, front man of The Flaming Lips, have a happy birthday?

Some things matter more. Lots more.

Today a good friend will be in Omaha to bury his father. Tom’s dad’s death was “expected, yet sudden and sad.” He thought he had said goodbye several years ago when his dad no longer knew who he was, but this is an unexpectedly hard goodbye.

When my Mom died in 2013 I heard a phrase that has stuck with me. It was appropriate for me then, as it is now for Tom and Gloria: saddened, but relieved.
-=-=-=
Some lyrics from a couple of Flaming Lips songs have been rattling around in my head off and on since Gloria sent me the text about the death of a man who won the Bronze Star while serving in the Airborne in Korea.

“Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round…”

And from “Fight Test”:

“I don’t know where the sun beams end and the star lights begin
It’s all a mystery
And I don’t know how a man decides what right for his own life
It’s all a mystery…”
-=-=-=

I have lots and lots of questions. I don’t have many answers. Pretty much everything is a mystery to me.

But I do know this much:

Give lots of hugs.
Tell the people who you love how you feel. Tell them now.
And be.
Just BE.