Too Young for Goodbyes
But still they come
It’s been hitting me lately how people my age are passing away. 30-something. 40-something. That doesn’t feel old enough. Not old enough to be burying friends, not old enough to be saying goodbye so soon. And yet… here we are.
A friend told me about someone close to her. Always in and out of the hospital, always dealing with something. But she was the sweetest, most generous, most joy-filled person. Even with all the pain, she lived her life full. And now she’s gone.
I keep thinking about that. How even when her body was giving her trouble, her spirit was still abundant. How she still managed to leave a mark. A beautiful one.
And I wonder… what will mine be? What will people say when they say my name? Will they remember me as someone who was kind, who loved fully, who lived beautifully?
I pray for that. I pray that when my time comes, whether that’s decades away or sooner than I’d like, somebody remembers me in a beautiful way.
Because at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that really matters.
beautiful and timely reflection, Jade. I lead a grief group and this week's conversation was centered around legacy and all the many ways we look at it and maybe most importantly, what we want our own to be. it's something i think about often. beyond that, i'm 35 now and you're right, it does feel like we're too young for goodbyes. losing folks i know and care about to even just learning about the passing of peers is a lot. i saw a quote a while back when a young man's wife passed away in her like 30s saying something like "you don't know if you're young or old in the grand concept of time" and that stuck with me. thanks again for this <3
I feel this, having lost two really good friends my age this summer.