Memento Mori

Remember death

I recently learned that a friend, a father figure of sorts, was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer. He is someone whom I grew up with and looked up to. A wicked guitar player, independent, trusting.

He's young too, maybe 65. He and his wife had always been healthy, eating organic, non GMO, active, you name it. So this news totally caught me off guard. How could this have happened?

It’s another reminder of how fragile life is. Memento Mori. Latin for “remember death.” I’ve adopted this phrase over the years and often think about my own death. Because everything can be gone in an instant. Am I living a life worth living?

Memento Mori was coined by the Roman Stoics to help them realize that life is short, and that we should make the most of it.

Our quibbling, our wars, our worrying about what others think, it’s all a waste of time. What matters is what you can control. That you’re growing. How you treat others. The relationships with the people in your life. Doing your duty as a person. Waste no time on things that do not matter because you don’t know how much time you have left.

I’ve been doing a ritual Sunday drive since high school. On many Sundays, I’d drive in the mountains, around the city, on country roads, to the beach… mainly to reflect and think and connect the dots.

This particular Sunday I took a drive down memory lane, driving the roads where I grew up, driving down roads I’d been on hundreds if not thousands of times before. Driving those roads you know so well, that with each turn, a memory is triggered.

We drove those roads together.

Remember how fragile life is. How good life can be. Remember that you must choose to remain present. Be here now. Memento Mori.