Sunday, December 30, 2007

Goodbye 2007, Welcome 2008!!!

I do want to write a blog entry today but am buckling under pressure. The pressure of writing something thoughtful and profound! If you think about it 31st December is just like any other day of the year. Then why should I feel that my blog entry today has to be something more meaningful than any other blog entry? Why do we celebrate 31st December so much whereas we should be celebrating every day of the year? (hopefully celebrating every day does not mean binge drinking :))

Enjoy this photo I took flying yesterday at Kamshet. It really goes well with the entire thoughtfulness theme of this blog...

This last month, I got whole new perspective as I experienced four people pass away.
  • First one, in the family took place in a different city. Physical distance makes it so much easier to deal with such situations. For the 15 years that we stayed in US and away from family, deaths in family was a moment to pause and move on.
  • Second one, happened again in the family. This time I came face to face with a dead body for the first time in my life.
  • Third one, I witnessed while flying at Kamshet. A paraglider flying next to me collided with another one, both of them fell to the ground. Later I found out that one of them died on the way to the hospital. At one moment I was having a great time flying and the next moment I felt nauseating and wanted to land quickly.
  • Fourth and last death, again happened in family. This time, I saw life extinguishing at an astonishingly close proximity and at agonizingly slow speed. I hope you never have to sit next to a person and watch their heart rate drop slowly over time to a flat horizontal line! It is not easy to fathom that the person lying next to you is taking their last few breaths!

The amazing thing about these series of deaths was that I got increasing exposure to end moments of life! It affirmed my belief that life is short and we have to enjoy it while it lasts!!

If I may borrow a song from my moondogger set of close friends,

People dying everywhere, happy new year!
People dying everywhere, happy new year!!

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