A month ago, a friend of mine committed suicide.  Like any suicide, it was a shock to everyone.  Unlike other suicidal people, he showed no signs that anything was wrong – that he was depressed or anxious or feeling alone.  He hid all of his struggles while surrounded by people.  It was a shock.

Today, they are holding a celebration of his life.

Immediately, I was going.  There was no place I’d rather be but with friend surrounded by people remembering this man.

And then time went on.as

And people got weird.

And drama started happening.

And negativity seemed to be spreading through our community like wildfire.

So this man – his life – his positive contribution – was being lost behind the other bullshit.

The final straw was when a monthly party – which happened to be scheduled the same day but that evening.  A total coincidence blown into high drama pieces.

Toss in there the fact the even positive things posted have turned into magnets for negativity, and I’m just not in the mood to go embed myself in the midst of it all.

Instead, I’m going to take my camera.  I’m going to go to a wilderness area that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while.  And I’m going to celebrate life.  My life.  The fact I have amazing people in my life.  The fact that I got the time I had with my friend while he was alive – that he touched my life.  I’m going to nurture the positive.

Because the reality of the situation is this:

Shit happens.  People come into and out of our lives unexpected.  We will laugh. We will cry. We will feel alone at times.  And we will feel surrounded at times.  Life will go up and it will go down.