Death is a wakeup call for the living
It’s funny how in youth the thought of death escaped me. I experienced the loss of a childhood friend who drowned at the of 10, but my youth got me past it. Time allowed me to get on with my life and put the horrible thought of it aside.
Now I’m a senior and this year I lost two friends. I remember our time together and the good things about them. It is strange how we tend to forgive the bad things about people in their passing. Vasil was an artist, a humorist and he made the best homemade Bulgarian preserves I have ever tasted. Joanne was a smiling exotic chef. As the days go by and I think of them, I also think that I really haven’t done enough in my life to be leaving this world just yet. Their deaths have made me aware that there is a life I haven’t experienced yet. I have never been to Europe or to the east coast of Canada. I have decided to ask my old buddy Harry to join me in my enthusiasm and just go.
We waited a long five months to get cheap airfare in the low season. One day we made the decision to sell second hand furniture in order to fulfill our dream. Harry and I hit garage sales and moving sales weekend after weekend and sold second hand furniture on Craigslist. We saved every penny and even then it took us six months to get the money together. I thank my now departed friends who always told me to travel. In their death, they gave me that burst of life. I bought a ticket to Paris this morning and I will think of them when I am sipping my coffee on the Champs-Elysees.
April in Paris. I am here, writing the rest of my story at a sunny sidewalk cafe (I can’t pronounce the sign) on the Champs-Elysees. The two of us arrived last night. Harry and I can’t get over the small size of our coffee cups. Since he is a big man Harry’s fingers are getting caught in the handle of the cup. Now if you are reading my story; I don’t care how old you are but it is never too late for you to be here too. Sorry to say, but the French treat seniors better than they do in our country. Now what is that all about? Have North American’s gotten so full of self-interest that we have lost respect? Women seem to be more feminine in the way they dress and much slimmer in general. I am able to say a few words in French that I learned in school so many years ago. The sun is shinning. It’s a far cry from Vancouver’s constant grey sky.
We have decided to take in some of the famous art galleries and plan to go to the top of Arc de Triumph. We are just going to do the town.
Harry and I are already plotting out our trip to Spain and Greece. Death isn’t just a natural process of life, but a wakeup call for the living.
