People come and go

"As for man, his days are like grass,   he flourishes like a flower of the field;
 the wind blows over it and it is gone,  and its place remembers it no more"
Psalm 103: 15-16  NIV

"Just walkin' the streets death can take you away, It's never guaranteed that you'll see the next day ... But if I fall asleep and death takes me away, don't be surprised son, I wasn't put here to stay ..."
Fugees - "Family Business"

The excerpt from Psalms was part of Ash Wednesday service, and the Fugees lyrics are from an album I've been listening to lately. These are two of a few instances lately that have reminded me of those in my family who have died and of the idea of death, in general.
A little more than two years ago, my grandfather died, and a few months ago, an aunt of mine died. Several years ago, I lost another uncle. I was so much younger then that the experience seems different now. Or maybe it's just starting to happen a little more often.
I'm pretty lucky. Three of my four grandparents are still alive. I still have my parents, all their siblings, great aunts and uncles, etc. And I have a wonderful immediate family - my wife and beautiful daughter. Just because they're not older doesn't mean I should appreciate having them less.
Still, lately, I find myself thinking of death more.
Maybe it's the season. Lent is a season of deprivation, death.
Maybe it's fear. Death is something of which I'm very afraid. I hope to work on that. I want to find a peace with death. It's part of the cycle. It has to happen. I should get over myself or whatever.
In case anyone's wondering, I don't really have a point with this blog. It's just what's on my mind.
However, I don't want to leave things at that.
Though none of us are put here to stay, there are ideas, concepts, feelings?, that survive us all. And the impact of our existence, or, to borrow a term, our footprints, are around forever.
I've gotta leave the world one of these days. I should accept that. And I should count myself very blessed if it can honestly be said that I left it a little better off than I found it.

To continue the Psalm above with the very next verse, But from everlasting to everlasting, the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children."

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." I Corinthians 13:7-8