Are you following me?

In late August of 2001, I tried to call my Mom from "The Top of the World." A few weeks later, friends and family still had postcards from the World Trade Center on their refrigerators when the World Trade Center did no longer exist. That may have been the last time I ever sent postcards from my travels.

Image by Joshua Schwimmer via Flickr

In early July of 2011 (a month ago), I spent a few days in Oslo for a conference; walked the streets where the bomb would explode a few weeks later.

In the past 45 days, I've lost a lifelong friend's little brother, a friend from high school who fought bravely for years against breast cancer and a beloved uncle who always had advice to give and a joke to tell.

So I ask again, "Death, are you following me?"

This weekend I thought about the words that I would have wanted to share if I was to suddenly find myself in a difference place and on a different path.

Do not mourn for what I meant to be,

I lived fully and experienced much.

Do not wonder of my regret,

I learned more from failure than success.

Do not think I never found love,

I always had you in my heart.

Mourn briefly for the smiles my life gave to you

Over the perfect flavors of wine and thought.

And set about to live one day of your life like mine,

By coddling nomadic dreams

To experience something new--

A culture, a coffee, a conversation.

Soulfully wondering over questions

That we were never able to answer--

That we never cared to answer--

Because we learned always to love the journey

And the destination...

When we happened upon it.

And if answers should fall upon your lap,

Send them back to me on the sea

And laugh once you realize

They may have come to you

From me.