Uncertainty of life!

On my way home from my son's school, I pass this "Radiation and Oncology" department of a hospital. Somehow, it always gives me the jitters when I see this. I see it everyday and everyday, a shiver seems to run down my spine . So, one day , I thought to myself- "Why do I have this strange feeling?"
Immediately as if in answer to my question, a gush of thoughts flooded my mind about how uncertain life is, how good people always seem to leave this earth fast, how bubbly and enjoyable people get hit with the unavoidable truth of life- death.
Memories started flowing in of a friend who nature had taken away. She was a very jovial person who loved life, lived life and enjoyed life!
She loved to dress up and loved style and fashion. She loved to travel, meet with friends and have fun! She was a real fun-loving person you would call. To supplement her love for life, was her husband He was a person who would keep you laughing with his witty remarks. One fine day, they invited us to a Gurudwara service that they were throwing. The obvious question that arose in our minds were - "What was the occasion?" He replied saying - "It is to commemorate her 4 yrs of remission of Leukemia" It was as if we struck by a thunder. We never could imagine that this sweet girl was suffering from such a dreadful disease. And to top it all they had masked their sadness so well with smiles and laughter. If you saw this couple, I am sure you would envy them and think that they were having all the fun of the world. Now it seemed to make sense to me why he was always extremely meticulous to meet all her wishes. He loved her as if there was no tomorrow. Sometimes, I envied her. Now everything seemed to fall into place.
Her fifth yr in remission passed. The doctors had told her that if 5 yrs passed by in remission , she would be fine for the rest of her life. We had moved from that place around this time and life has it, we had contact with them over the phone and e-mails. Suddenly, there seemed to be a silence from their side and then lo ! one fine day, we get an e-mail that her leukemia had come back and she needed a bone marrow transplant. Her sibling came all the way from India only to find out that she was not a match. Drives started and people started flowing in. To her good luck, they found a match and the doctors decided on the marrow transplant. The marrow transplant seemed to have gone well. But the fourth day had seomthing else in store for her. She started getting a fever and she seemed to be getting weaker. Her immune system was not responding well. So she had to stay in the hospital for a month or two. Imagining him trying to balance his work, life and everything made me really think about life hard. He shut off much contact. Phone calls from him started fading. E-mails withered. I could imagine the phase he was going through. He still tried to keep up his cheer. He maintained a webpage where he would post updates about her. I would religiously go and look for any updates about her. Then as time passed by, the updates stopped. Seemed like things were returning to normal for them. They had bought a house and it seemed like life was starting to be fair to them. A couple of years passed by with no much news from them. So, a few weeks back, I suddenly for no reason gave a search in google for them and found a webpage in her memoriam- She had passed away in jan 2005! I could not believe it! Well, practically all of us knew that her years were counted but you do not want to accept the hard reality!
When I read her obituary, I started thinking to myself- is it worth fighting for petty reasons, is it not more worth being loved and loving, being nice to people around you. Life is just a passing dream. It will soon end- who knows when . I reminded myself - Enjoy life while it lasts , for the flame will soon extinguish!
Everyday, when I pass the Oncology department, somehow I am always reminded of the nice things that we should be thankful for in life, little pleasures that bring a smile to our face, the no-biggies that we always tend to overlook!