Time is Fleeting

I lost a dear friend recently and it made me realize how fleeting time really is.  Kristy and I met at work and quickly realized we had a love of animals in common.  We became fast friends and spent a lot of time at work and even outside of work together.  I was in the throes of wedding planning agony and she was my bridesmaid minus the dress since I already had planned that part of the wedding and she really had no interest in actually standing up in the wedding.  But she helped me as much, if not more than my bridesmaids did.

My dear friend Kristy

We registered for my wedding together.  We Christmas shopped together.  We hung out out New Years together.  We were so much alike that we joked we were BFF twinsies.  We both got new jobs (on the same campus) the same year but still met for lunch every day.  We were incredibly close until just before I got pregnant and then we started to drift apart since she was single and I was married and having a kid.  

Good times at my bachelorette party

We still talked regularly and kept each other up to date on what was happening in each other's lives.  I knew when she got engaged and when that engagement ended.  She knew when my horse died and when I found out I was pregnant.  But I will never forget the moment she called and told me she found out she had been diagnosed with cancer.  It was a type of uterine cancer and the doctor's thought it was early on in it's progress.  Except it wasn't.  It was stage 3 and had progressed throughout her lymph nodes in her groin.  She had a full hysterectomy and radiation and many other surgeries and treatments.  

Even while sick, we still kept in touch and talked semi-regularly.  She bravely fought the cancer for two and a half years until her body just couldn't take anymore.  On October 17th, she passed away surrounded by her family. She was only 32 years old.  It came as a shock to me because I had talked to her just two weeks before and she seemed to be doing okay.  I didn't even get to say goodbye.  

I will never forget her and the good times we shared.  She fought bravely and will be sorely missed by everyone around her.  I hope that one day I get to see her again in heaven.  In the meantime (and hopefully there is lots of it), I plan to do a 5K for cancer at some point in the future.  You know when I can run 5K.  I also plan on trying to really cherish every single moment with my family and friends because you just don't know how many moments you have left on this earth. 

Getting massages at my bachelorette party

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, 
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
a time to kill and a time to heal, 
a time to tear down and a time to build, 
a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 
a time to search and a time to give up, 
a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
a time to tear and a time to mend, 
a time to be silent and a time to speak, 
a time to love and a time to hate, 
a time for war and a time for peace.