Mortality
A lifetime is so short. When we're children, we wish our lives away. We can't wait to be a "grown-up" so we don't have to go to school anymore. We want to be 16, so we can drive a car. Then when we turn 16, we want to be 21, so we can drink. Then, when we hit 25, we realize we had no idea what we were wishing away. Madrea Hicks didn't get that opportunity. As I sat in the middle of my bedroom floor, looking back at pictures and annuals, I came upon her obituary. A beautiful young woman, dead at age 17. A young life ended. Opportunities lost. Why? What caused Madrea to turn to drugs? What pain was so great that she had to kill it by getting a "quick fix"?
The vision of her in a casket haunts me to this day. I can still still see how perfect her hair was curled. Every hair in place. The beautiful red and white suit she had on. Madrea would've never worn that while she was living. A tie-dyed t-shirt and bell-bottom jeans were more her style. In her right hand, a strip of photos of her with Lindsey from a photo booth, in her left hand, a dollar bill. I was 15 years old, and had seen the life of a friend end. I knew how dangerous drugs were, but didn't think it could happen to anyone I knew. We never do. It can't happen to me. For some reason, we all, to a certain extent, think we're invincible. It takes a loss many times, for us to realize just how human we really are...
It's been twelve years now, and Madrea lies in an unmarked grave. I remember where she's buried, and leave flowers on the ground. I will never forget. I'm haunted by the memory of a young life lost. What would Madrea have been? What would she have done differently had she known that warm spring day in June, was her last? What wrongs would she have tried to make right? I don't know. Questions I'll never have answered.
Why do we take our lives for granted? Why do feel as if the next breath of air we take, WON'T be our last? We hurt those we love, we take for granted they'll always be there. They won't. We won't. I tell my friends and family I love them each and every time I hang up the phone. Before I leave, I hug them- tell them I love them. I didn't get the chance to tell Bobby Dean or Madrea- no one else will die, without knowing I loved them. Cigarettes: 21- Why do I even count?
The vision of her in a casket haunts me to this day. I can still still see how perfect her hair was curled. Every hair in place. The beautiful red and white suit she had on. Madrea would've never worn that while she was living. A tie-dyed t-shirt and bell-bottom jeans were more her style. In her right hand, a strip of photos of her with Lindsey from a photo booth, in her left hand, a dollar bill. I was 15 years old, and had seen the life of a friend end. I knew how dangerous drugs were, but didn't think it could happen to anyone I knew. We never do. It can't happen to me. For some reason, we all, to a certain extent, think we're invincible. It takes a loss many times, for us to realize just how human we really are...
It's been twelve years now, and Madrea lies in an unmarked grave. I remember where she's buried, and leave flowers on the ground. I will never forget. I'm haunted by the memory of a young life lost. What would Madrea have been? What would she have done differently had she known that warm spring day in June, was her last? What wrongs would she have tried to make right? I don't know. Questions I'll never have answered.
Why do we take our lives for granted? Why do feel as if the next breath of air we take, WON'T be our last? We hurt those we love, we take for granted they'll always be there. They won't. We won't. I tell my friends and family I love them each and every time I hang up the phone. Before I leave, I hug them- tell them I love them. I didn't get the chance to tell Bobby Dean or Madrea- no one else will die, without knowing I loved them. Cigarettes: 21- Why do I even count?
posted by Chloe' Gardner | 2:15 AM
1 Comments:
Our chances to merit are only on earth ,some of us have more time than others . Pray for them and I will to offer up
a prayer on their behalf. No one knows the day or hour when their mortality is to end. Your body is made in the image and likeness of God treat it with respect and pray before the Blessed Sacrement to be free of your habit. Your meant for great things!!!
God Bless
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