Road to Fifty Reflections: Day 51

Every time someone dies, a part of us dies too. There is a pain that grips the heart, followed by the sobering realization that our own time will also come. Death stirs questions that words cannot easily answer.

In recent years, we have lost several cousins aged forty to sixty One of them I had just greeted on his birthday... two days later, news came that he had died. Another was a friend with whom I often exchanged messages. She struggled deeply but spoke of hope and of living for her daughter. One night, I received a call saying she had taken her own life. 

I found myself asking: Have I really been there for them? Have I listened enough? Did I send a message of encouragement when they needed it most? Because it is better to offer flowers and speak kind words while they can still be received and cherished.

Perhaps this is what God is teaching me through these losses... that love must be expressed now, not postponed. And if I have failed to do so today, may God grant me the grace and the days to begin again... to love better, listen more attentively and reach out freely.

So while we still can, let us send our flowers, not to the graves, but to the living hearts around us. Let our words be seeds of comfort and grace. For in loving one another today, we prepare our souls for the eternal tomorrow.

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Eternal rest grant unto the soul of my cousin Veronica (+Nov. 8, 2025). And let perpetual light shine upon her.

May she rest in peace 🙏