Happily Ever After? Happy Ending? Is there an after?

Apart from my previous post and the fact that I am ummm 19, I think I've realised more than anything the value of time!!

They say these are your best years and they'll never come back. These are the experiences that pretty much shape the way you'll think about stuff for the rest of your life. What they forget to tell you though is that you'll suffer tremendous losses. You'll go through a growth pert and lose so much of your hair. Which is fine really. But you'll lose friends. To other friends. To peer pressure. To academics. To disease and death!!!!

We all live in this bubble. You never think someone you know could be HIV+ or have a life-threatening disease. You never think someone you know could be dying - physically or emotionally!! & if and when you find out, you're overcome with shock to react to it!!!

For the past fortnight, I've been visiting a home that shelters HIV+ kids. Some of them so young, they don't even know what they're suffering from. But what is most striking about them is that they have an amazing spirit of living. They take care of each other - they share everything they've got and they live every day as if it's the only one. We might have learnt everything else but I guess we missed out on the most important thing.

Have we become insensitive? Are we selfish? Or do we need hard-hitting facts to show us how small we are - in comparison to the bigger picture! We let petty fights, misunderstandings, rash decisions get in the way. I thought we were bigger than this. The scariest thing is losing someone special. Because it won't matter then, none of this will!

All those times that we have won't come back again. The sleepovers and parties. From walking on the beach to cooking in the kitchen. From foam filled dance floors to board game filled beds. Crazy pictures that fill up albums. Letters that take too much of drawer space. These are the only things that will make us smile. So why not have so many memories that we never have a dull moment? I guess we all need to let go.. Of the past. Of our prejudices.m Of ourselves :)