Today is the Day

You must express love, appreciation, and BE with those who become your “logical” family, through unconditional love and acceptance.

Always.

One day, we run out of days.

We all come from a biological family, but it’s the creative, diverse “logical” family we form that gets us through the hard work, and ecstatic joys, of this life.

I lost a friend forever, Sunday night. I’m glad he was with someone he loved, surrounded by wonderful dogs. The text message I received said,

It was a relaxed fun evening. We ate take out Chinese and watched a game on tv. One minute he was teasing me about something and the next he was on the ground. 911 operator walked me thru chest compressions and paramedics arrived within 5 minutes. Just couldn’t get him back.

I’ve felt sick about it.
Angry about it.
Scared by it.
Hopeless about it.
Sad about it.

Tom was someone who interacted with me nearly every day, despite the distance between Texas and California. I’ve caught myself grabbing my phone to text him, or make sure he’s seen something on FB. Proves he was part of the funny, frustrating, and mundane things. You know, daily life.

He would usually start our text chats with “Rubs!!!”

It always shook me out of my routine, and made me smile, given that the first three letters of my name describe what I do, day in and day out, as a massage therapist.

Tom didn’t run out of days, I did.

He was not shy about texting “Come see me!” As my brother, his college roommate said, Tom “always asked when you might be coming to Houston so you could get together.”

I ran out of days to accept his frequent invitations.

He enjoyed the simplicity of sharing a good meal, talking about the latest accomplishments of his dogs, who are agility superstars. Or asking about my biological family.

He was family to me, and I’m glad he knew it.

Now go text yours. Especially the last one who asked for some of your time.