I had half-written a blog article on music. I will post it later. While I was writing it, I received very sad news via text message: a long-standing member of the 101 Dalmatians fandom has passed. And by long-standing, I mean long enough that I knew them from my original Dalmatian ‘net experiences, before my fox era. This comes just a few days after a very talented race car driver that regularly came out to one of our local events also passed away of an illness, completely unrelated to racing.
And it’s sort of reminded me of the beautiful, tragic fragility of life.
It might seem odd to refer to this as beautiful, but I think it is. That is what makes life special and unique. It can’t last forever. Every time and era has its own lives, its own voices, its own special meaning, and I think that is a great thing to behold.
As a writer, it’s always sort of on my mind in some way. Mortality is expressed in many stories, and in many ways. Of the 27 volumes I’ve outlined, five of them express some form of this idea. Yet, I think nothing really ever prepares you for the reality of it until it hits you again like this.
It also reminded me of the article I wrote on my former blog on the passing of Telsa Gwynne. This was now 11 years ago. I still think the lesson is important. If someone means something to you – if someone has touched your life in a positive way – tell them! So, in that spirit…
Please hug your loved ones. Tell them how much you care about them. It doesn’t matter if it has been a long time; I’m sure they still want to hear it. If everyone reading my blog can learn only one lesson from all my lived experiences, I would want it to be this. Time only moves in one direction, so don’t waste it. Life is for living and sharing. Love one another. The way of the Dalmatian is to love our family and friends with our whole souls and wide open hearts.
