When he was ten, he bought cigarettes from the small grocery store in his tiny town. He used the coins that he’d collected from selling life’s discarded remnants. A pop bottle here and a beer bottle there…two cents a bottle. Fourteen bottles bought a pack. With so many of his family crowded around, they would assume it was for one off his older brothers or sisters.
When he was twelve, he began to drink quite a bit. It was easy to sneak out a few beers… or some whisky from the pile. After a full night of drinking they never missed it…if they even remembered they had it to begin with,
When he was 16, he disappeared. They were so tired of each other by then that they never realized he had been misplaced. No one cried for him. He could only imagine that one day they looked up and said, “I wonder where Jerry is?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” came a reply from the person that had replaced him .
And their life kept moving along.

It’s 3 degrees here in the frozen northland. Winter has finally descended upon us. Autumn was a nice run as we enjoyed the warmer than normal temperatures. But the last week has brought nothing but dismal skies and colder weather reminding me of where I live.

But the sun made an appearance today for the first time in a while. I watched it from my writing nest as it rose above the low mountains. A sunrise that was truly a site to behold. The eastern horizon was so bright that it made me want to close my eyes yet I could not look away as the sky filled with the beautiful colors of dawn. But it quickly faded into the haze of winter’s sky and disappeared.

Like life, there are things and people that flash into our lives and bring us great joy. Never forget that those moments or those friends could be taken away just as quickly as the sun can fade behind a cloud. So we must cherish every second we have to share and live our lives as if there will be no tomorrow.

Enjoy each day to the fullest and you will not regret the past.

Have a great beginning to a fantastic new year.