No Second Chances.

The last couple of days have been rough, really rough. I won’t go into the gory details but it has been a couple of days filled with lots of tears. Lots of soggy tissues and lots of panda eyes. Two days where my depression was clearly winning! But something happened yesterday that snapped me out of my despair and back to the harsh reality.

I spoke to my younger sister last night, who had a horrific experience yesterday. This got me to thinking about death and my own mortality.  My sister saw things and heard things that no one should ever have to see or hear. She was witness to a horrific, totally tragic and totally preventable motorbike accident. That killed a young man, almost instantly. She knelt next to a young man, talking to him, while he took his last, very shallow, breaths. Checked for a pulse. Waited for the paramedics. Comforted a mother and her 2 year old daughter, who’s stationary car the motorcyclist hit. She witnessed the second motorcyclist involved,  return to the scene of the accident and then leave again. Leaving his friend behind, dying on the side of the road,  surrounded by only a few strangers.

What my sister doesn’t realize yet, is what she did for these people was a gift. A gift to these strangers in their time of need, when they were at their most vulnerable. Truth be told, I am not surprised by her actions. My younger sister, Kelly, is the strongest person I know!!! And it is a real privilege and blessing to be her older sister. Truth be told, if it was me taking my last breaths, she is the first person I would want by my side. Talking to me and holding my hand. Comforting my children.

All of this has got to make you wonder!!! What sort of human being does that??? Leaves his friend, in his time of need, to die alone on the side of a very busy road. I, for one, wouldn’t leave a stranger,  or an animal,  on the side of the road to die alone!! Because no one deserves to die alone. It also makes you wonder, if that young man woke up yesterday and said to himself “Today is my last day!! I am going to die today!!” What would he have changed if he knew??? What would he have said to his friends, his family, his mother, if he knew it was his last day???
But he didn’t know he was going to die yesterday. He had no idea it was his last day on earth. And I’m sure if he did, he would have changed plenty and reconsidered that one, stupid decision, to ride at 120kms down a very busy road, in a 60km zone. Wearing only jeans and a leather jacket. I’m sure if he knew he was going to die, he would have told his loved ones how much he loved them. He would have hugged and held his mother, his father, his siblings, possibly his girlfriend, his wife, his children and his friends and said the things he wanted to say before his life was snuffed out by one stupid decision.

But tragically, he doesn’t get that chance, nor the chance for goodbyes. And furthermore, his loved ones don’t get that chance either. The chance for their last, very final goodbye.
In the end, in those final moments….those last breaths… “LOVE is all you need!!!” Nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank, what sort of car you drive, what you have achieved or what kind of job you have. The only things that truly matter are love and being surrounded by the people you love and who love you, how you lived and the legacy you leave behind. There are no second chances!!

So the moral of this story is “Love the ones you are with!!” Say the things you need to say,  before it is to late. Get busy living. Because no one knows when it’s their last day on earth. There are no second chances!!!

Pass the bubble wrap,

Jo. Xx

#love #death #depression #life