Death. We all prefer not to think about it and dread the sound of the word whenever we hear it. Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with this fact of life, as well as other life experiences, all too soon, again.

You’re never prepared whenever someone close to you becomes seriously ill or dies. The last close relative to have passed away in my family was my maternal (first) cousin from breast cancer, six years ago. However, within the last seven months, my family and I have dealt with two hospitalizations and two more deaths. One of my uncles (on my mother’s side), who lives in Southern California, and my brother, who lives in Sonoma County, were both hospitalized for different reasons in February. Both have fully recovered since, but when one of your relatives has to remain in the hospital for more than a week, you start to worry and start looking at the situation with a different set of eyes.

Prior to my uncle and brother’s hospitalizations, my mother’s oldest sister, who lived in Southern California, passed away last September. Then exactly four months later, my mother’s other sister—her last surviving one—passed away in Baja, California. There’s only so much one family can take in the span of several months and mine definitely wasn’t spared.

When you’re younger, you sometimes tend to believe that you’re invincible; nothing is ever going to happen to you. I remember as a teenager I loathed having to participate in physical education in junior high and high school. Whenever my gym teacher would tell my classmates and I to go run around the track, my thoughts were always, “You want me to run how many laps?” I didn’t realize then that all the exercise we were being forced to do was to help motivate us into staying healthy in our future.

A person can take all the necessary steps, such as eating the right foods, taking vitamins and exercising daily to help prevent any future ailments they can develop; however, they cannot prevent genetics. For example, heart disease, high-blood pressure and Diabetes all run in my family, and as I get older, I would rather not want to acquire any of these. Knowing my own limitations, I’m trying my best to adhere from consuming everything I know that’s bad for me and trying to get in as much exercise daily despite a busy school schedule. I believe that all the precautions I take now will help me in the long run and will make me feel better in the end.
With the recent deaths of my two aunts, I try not to think about death amongst any of my other relatives because then I start feeling sadness looming over me. There have been a few times when I have found myself having a bad dream about a close relative dying. That’s when I know I have to wake myself up because I do not want those types of thoughts in my consciousness.

I’ve never been one to be morbid, but sometimes you can’t help but think what would happen if you only had a limited time left on this Earth. God, or whatever higher power you believe in, has a plan for everyone—young and old. What would you do? Where would you go? What would you eat as your last meal? Would you get the chance to say good-bye to all of your friends and family? For some, such as myself, growing older makes you realize what’s really more important in your life and what you would like to accomplish before your time is up.
Another thing I believe about mortality is that you also start valuing your life and the people in your life a lot more, especially the time you spend with your family. I’ve always been close to my parents, so it’s important for me, as well as my two siblings, to be there for our parents because we don’t know how much time we have left with them. It scares me to think what my life will be like without them. When that time comes, which I know is inevitable, I will have to face reality and accept it. But for now, I just want to enjoy life and the time I still have left here with all of my loved ones.