Let them know

I was mulling over a post on the inevitability of death recently, prompted by the sudden passing of one of the blokes I play five-a-side with every week. Like most of the blokes that play, I only knew him through the footy, and can't claim to have been a friend beyond that casual, passing acquaintance of coming together in a disparate bunch once a week to kick a ball around. But regardless, one week he was kicking that ball, and getting cross at his team-mates for not tackling back, the next he had dropped down dead from a heart attack at the age of 54, leaving two grown-up kids behind. It rocked me a bit, and I spent some time mulling over the certainty of death, the sudden end of a whole life. I drafted a post but I couldn't make it work - everything I wrote seemed crass, facile or clichéd, perhaps because, as I have written before, I have never really had to face the death of someone I'm really close to, not yet. For whatever reason, the post got discarded.

Many of you will know Swiss Adam from his always-excellent blog, Bagging Area. I've just read that Adam's son, Isaac, died yesterday, following COVID complications. Isaac had just turned 23, a week earlier, and had already battled through more in his life than anyone should have to. Now I don't know Adam, have never met him, yet feel that I do after years of reading his blog. As a father of a son myself, my heart breaks for Adam and his family. We can only send all best wishes, inadequate though they are.

Life is short. As the Flaming Lips are saying here, let your loved ones know that they are loved, not just in words but in deeds.

Rest in peace, Isaac.