My Neighbor

My neighbor died of cancer. He had a rare form of cancer and died at home. He was only two years older than me and had two kids. He seemed like a nice guy. He would always wave and say hello. I look across the street now and see his truck parked in the driveway, his camper in the backyard, and the shed he built before he got too sick to do anything. His girlfriend doesn't get as many visitors anymore. I watched them remove the body from the house. Then they removed all the medical equipment and his family left. Just like that.

Since his death, I've done a lot of thinking and have come to two conclusions. One, you either choose life or death. How many of us are really living? Or are we just going through the motions? Two, if you want a different life you have to do things differently. You can't do the same thing everyday and expect a different result. No one is going to knock on your door and change your life. You have to do that yourself. My neighbor's death at such a young age from a rare form of cancer has got me thinking - am I living the life I want to live? What can I do differently to change my life? Some people live to a be a hundred and some people die from cancer at age forty in their house. You never know when you or your loved ones are going to go. We have to start living, we have to take chances, we have to do things differently, right now.