Life is too Fragile.

So for those of you who read this, which by now I think it's at least 10 people, you most likely already know this. This past Friday, one of the girls in my nursing class passed away. Her name was Kat Perez. Her 23rd birthday is today, and I just keep thinking about how short her life was cut. I've never had someone so young that I've had so much interaction with die before. It's almost still so unreal to me that she's gone. I am having a hard time grasping the fact that when I go to class tomorrow, one of us isn't going to be there. Not because we're too tired, to want to go to class, but because she's no longer here on this earth with us.
I am so sad about the fact that I didn't know her better. Sure we were in the same classes for 2 years and I saw her almost every day of the school year for those two years but I wish I could have had a closer relationship with her. I always admired her for the comments she made in class, or the attention to certain parts of the clinical world that she paid in our first semester of clinicals. Kat will surely be missed in the nursing class of May 2010.
On a lighter note, Kat's passing has really seemed to bring all of us a little closer. We as a class are going out tonight to Kat's favorite restaurant to celebrate her birthday. It's kinda nice to all come together even if it is in a more somber atmosphere. We all loved Kat and I know we all miss her.
Thinking about how fragile life is I am realizing that I don't appreciate the life I am living nearly enough. I have food to eat, a roof over my head, the best friends that I could ever ask for, and I am relatively healthy. But then I think, Kat had all those things too. It's like Tim McGraw sings, we need to live like we're dying. I need to soak in all the things that life has to offer and not hold back anything because someday I'm not going to be here to say all the things that I need to, or do all the things that I should have. I want to live my life the way that God intended me to so that when I get to heaven someday, God will say to me, "Emily, you lived a life that was pleasing to me, and I am proud to call you my child."