Time comes for us all

_{I wish I could remember when and where this was taken. © me, whenever.}

Dwelling on thoughts of mortality, as you do. This year alone, I’ve seen a handful of friends grappling with surgeries and pretty serious health issues, with one of them nearly losing their life. It’s had me feeling like

for a while now.

I remember being six and lying in bed late at night when I had the horrifying realization that my parents—heck, my entire family and I—were going to die one day. (I never got the hang of early bedtimes.) I spent the next few nights muffling my sobs as I dwelled on that inevitability.

You’d think that having been aware of mortality for decades has made me more prepared and accepting of it. But learning about friends’ health issues and not their parents’ combined with my aching knees and occasional unexplainable pains are just making it all too real.