Life's Highway

It seems as if bad luck has recently surrounded several of my old friends from high school. Two former classmates lost their fathers this past week, one to a car wreck. Another friend lost everything she owns in a house fire right before Christmas. It breaks my heart for these folks to suffer these kinds of tragedies, but I guess it was inevitable as we age that life was going to hit us with some low blows.

In your teen years, you have such an idealistic view of the world that you expect only good things to happen to you and that you will live forever. It’s such a slap in the face to realize it isn’t true. I think it’s another symptom of aging in that you finally wake up to the notion that life is hard and that you are no different from the generations before you….you will suffer from time to time.

I don’t know whether to be glad or ashamed that it took me this many years to get that concept. I’m kind of glad that I lived in ignorance for a while. I’m also nervous about what lies ahead for me that I won’t see coming. Are there any airbags for this ride or am I speeding down life’s highway without a seatbelt? As I get older I just try to hang on tighter. It could be a bumpy ride. Please Lord, let there be a Dairy Queen or two along the way.