“Life, if lived well,
is long enough.” 
Seneca

It’s a sobering thought to realize that while you were waking up this morning, someone else was taking their last breath. That’s the reality most of us overlook every day. I’m not preoccupied with death, and I don’t worry about the inevitability of my own demise, but every now and then, I am reminded of my mortality. Today is one of those days, as I attend the funeral service for another one of my elementary school classmates at Saint Ignatius Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco.

Jeanette Stark was a member of the Class of 1968 at Saint Gabriel School in The City. She was born a little more than one month after me in 1954. I’m guessing that today’s funeral service is being held at Saint Ignatius Church because of Jeanette’s affiliation with the University of San Francisco, where she earned her degree in nursing. In my lifetime, I’ve been to countless funerals, but not that many have been for people my age. I suspect this will become a more regular occurrence as I continue to get older.

Occasions like this are reminders for us to be grateful for each day we are given. We never know when our time will come. Tomorrow is promised to no one. This is precisely why I make a concerted effort to see each day through the lens of gratitude, because each day truly is a gift.

Songwriter and entertainer Carole King’s words resonate quite well with me. She said, “If you were to ask me to sum up my life in one word: Gratitude.”

It doesn’t get much better than that.