Cycling matters to me. It is exercise, challenge, freedom and community. It has introduced me to people I might never otherwise have known. Recently, two of those people reminded me of something I would rather not think about: life can change in an instant. Wayne is 84 and has been cycling for more than 40 years. As a ride leader, he takes responsibility for others, watching the road, following the rules, making sure everyone gets home safely. Then, while turning into a parking area after a ride, he was struck broadside by a motorcycle. In one unimaginable second, the life he knew was gone. His experience, caution and good intentions could not protect him from that moment.

I also knew Joyce. She was my age, someone I had ridden with many times. She rode on the back of the tandem with her husband. Joyce spent winters in Alaska with her family. One day, she was hiking with her husband on a trail she had walked many times before. She slipped and fell 200 feet to her death. What happened in that instant? Was she distracted? Did she look away for a moment? Did she simply misstep? We will never know. And that may be the hardest part. There was no warning. No opportunity to prepare. Life intervened.

We like to believe we are in control. We plan, we calculate, we become experienced, careful and responsible. And much of the time, that serves us well. But there is a deeper truth we would rather avoid: none of us knows how many ordinary moments we have left. The moment we are living right now may feel insignificant, but it is not. It is the only moment we actually possess. That realization should not frighten us. It should wake us up. It should make us pay attention to the person sitting across from us. Make the phone call. Say what needs to be said. Stop postponing what matters. Serve someone. Love more deliberately.

I am profoundly saddened by what happened to Wayne and Joyce. But I am also grateful for the reminder, however painful, that life is not something to be saved for later. We are given no guarantee that there will be a later. A second sooner. A second later. A different turn. A different step. And everything changes. Perhaps the challenge is not to live fearfully because life can end, but to live awake because it can. I don’t want to merely have more time. I want to be fully present for the time I have. Life will intervene when it will. Until then, I intend to show up for mine.

Offering an opportunity to help you find new possibility in your life.

Gary Merel, Life Coach

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