What losing a sibling teaches

Jerry C., GA

Going through a loss

Losing a sibling is extremely hard, especially a younger one. I lost my little sister when she was just 54 to lung cancer, only six weeks and four days after she was diagnosed. There was not much time to prepare, not that you ever can for something like that. There were so many unanswered questions back then that nobody could answer. What caused the cancer? Was it because she smoked cigarettes for more than 30 years? Was it a genetic issue that went undiagnosed? Why did she have to die before me, or before our parents? These are the things that run through your mind when loss comes to your door. The lesson is really this: We are all here for a finite amount of time, and we do not know when our time is up. If you spend your hours, days, weeks, months, or even years not really living your life, then you are most assuredly wasting it. Grief is hard, and so is life. It will consume you and keep you down if you let it. If you want to really live, stop looking back, other than to reflect on something that brought you joy or a lesson you learned the hard way. Nothing, and I mean nothing, matters more than what you are going to do next: the next minute, the next hour, the next day, or the years you have left. At the end of your physical life, will you think back on all the joy you experienced, or all the regret you carried because you never really lived?