Archive:Andrew Hester/Reflection

By Andrew Hester , Minor Executive, Head of the Treasury , Senior Executive

March 22, 2013, Amended March 27, 2013

Thirty-one days ago on February 19, 2013 my chihuahua Willow pass away. While she was alive I never called her a dog, more often than not I called her a rat. She was an enormous pain in the butt; pooping and peeing in my bed even while I'm asleep in it, pooping while I'm carrying her to go outside to go to the bathroom, her constant snorting, her howl barking at me and so on... stuff I miss now. The saying "You don't know what you got til its gone" hold true, in life she was a pain, in death I miss all the things that made her a pain, even finding her poop in my bed.

To some, death is a wonderful thing in that most of the major religions, like Christianity, where you live in paradise forever, while Buddhism believes that you begin a new in a new form with each death. Too me however, I think when you die all that happens is that you're dead and you decompose, while a more sinister belief I'm atheist and science hasn't proven that there's life after death, plus the idea of such a notion doesn't make sense to me. Which ever case is true though, you should still value the time you got with what you got, no one truly knows what happens when you die. Granted some individuals were clinically dead say they saw a bright light, most likely from a doctor waving a mini light to check if they were responsive or not. Me I just assume that their optic nerve and brain register it cause clinical death means one's heart and breathing stop but not brain activity.

Bottom line though, spend as much time as you can now with the people and even pets that you love. Spend as much time with friends you hang out with, no one knows how much time they have. My second and oldest dog, Pooka, will turn 15 on April 4, 2013 and he's a Bichon Frise, their life expectancy is 13.5 years, everyday now is all the more precious to me that he's alive and I know given how hard Willow's passing was on me that his passing will be even more so since he's been with me since he was six months old. I had the opportunity of what few can ever hold claim too, golfing with my great-grandfather at the age of 14 years old! To this day when I golf with my grandfather (my great-grandfather's son) I miss having my great-grandfather there with us like old times and I treasure every year I still golf with my grandfather all the more. On top of missing golfing with my great-grandfather, my deepest regret I've never done while he was still alive was asking what he did in World War II. To this day I still don't know what he did, as a result of realizing I never would when he had his stroke in 2008 I made the promise of two years active duty in the United States Armed Services, one of which I'll be keeping when after getting my bachelors degree to enter the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant.

I've been planning for months now going to my great-grandmother's this Easter, this time without my laptop to be just her and me. While I'm there I plan to ask her about her cooking recipes, not something a guy would typically ask but her cooking is extraordinarily delicious and I know she doesn't have many more years left in her. While physically she's barely able to lift a Sunday newspaper, mentally she's still sharper than the sharpest knifes. Months ago my mother and step-dad and half sister moved to Texas, couple years before that my grandparents moved to Missouri and a few years before that my great-grandfather passed away, on top of all that my aunt lives in Kansas City... I'm all my great-grandmother has within less than an hours driving distance from her. I have a drivers license, I know how to get to her place I'll be damned if I don't spend some time with her.

Take time out of your life and spend time with friends and family, even pets. One minute you can wake up at midnight, then an hour and a half later find out you've lost someone close to you. None of us can live forever, and until we can everyday is precious, other wise you truly won't know what you got til its gone.

Andrew.D.Hester (talk) 21:19, March 22, 2013 (UTC)

Andrew.D.Hester (talk) 04:19, March 28, 2013 (UTC)