I've been thinking about mortality more than I would have liked over the past year. People die all the time but it seems that there were a lot more people who passed this past year who I knew personally and to some extent that's had me wondering how much more time do I have to be here and to enjoy the company of friends and family I care about. My uncle Dave passed in March 2024 and that was hard, but perhaps harder is the news that my step-sister Heather died just yesterday, apparently while sleeping and of natural causes. I met her when my Dad started dating her mother when I was 12 or 13 and even back then she just felt different. She was real. Genuine. Unassuming. And so incredibly friendly. She had all the best attributes of your favorite dog that you just wanted to hug and have around because she was so affable. You got the sense that she *listened* to you and heard what you had to say. In my own life I so often feel like I need to hide aspects of my personality and life, but Heather had a way of just *being there* and was happy to share your company and making you feel welcome. I never felt self conscious around her. I don't know how she did it, although I've been blessed to know her mother very well and her mother's parents too for many years so I know that sense of caring and interest in other people came from receiving it from her family.

Reading the outpouring of love for her since the news got out of her passing has been wonderful but also hard. She touched so many people's lives so deeply and truthfully. I'm seeing her from a perspective I hadn't appreciated before. She genuinely cared for people in such a simple unassuming way and I think I just took for granted that she'd always be around so I didn't take as much opportunity to interact with her as much as I could. I think I was just grateful and comfortable to be around her when we gathered for family holidays. I wish I could have expressed these thoughts to her when she was around. I get the feeling that she already knew the affect she had on people and that the affection folks had for her was a reflection of the kindness she continuously gave in abundance. It's going to be really hard not having her around at future family gatherings. I'm just so grateful that we got to share time with her for so long, even if that time is so unfortunately short. She had just turned 52 only a month ago.

Folks, if you can, share your appreciation with the people you care about. Let them know you're thinking about them and that they make a difference to you.