Life is Precious

Yesterday I received news that my Uncle Mike passed away. When you lose someone you are close to it sends chills through your entire body when you hear the news. It wasn’t totally unexpected, but it wasn’t expected this soon. I new he was struggling somewhat with some health issues, but totally caught off guard upon hearing the news. Uncle Mike was 87 years old, and retired from dentistry 2-3 years ago. He had some mobility issues and suffered a moderate stroke a year or so ago. I

I loved my uncle very much and although we weren’t that close as the years passed, the times we spent together were priceless. As a young teenager Uncle Mike invited me into his lab where he would do all his own lab work instead of farming it out to a professional lab. He pulled all four of my wisdom teeth, two at a time, and would work on his relatives with little or no charge. He left the navy and earned his way through USC and dental school. I had always admired my Uncle Mike.

When someone close to you passes on it reminds us how fleeting our lives here on earth really is. Most of the time we try not to reflect on our mortality but in moments like this we are forced to once again look at how vulnerable we actually are. No one knows the time or hour we will meet our meet our maker. It is up to us to get all the gusto we can each and every day. What I mean by that is that we must give our all each day to be the best version of ourselves that we can possible by. When we do this we are living our lives to the max and therefore getting the most gusto out of life that is possible.

Death is a reality. No one leaves this earth alive. We will someday meet the same fate Uncle Mike met. We need to live out our lives fully, so we leave little or no regrets behind. I hope that we all live out the rest of our lives full steam ahead.