On Dead Neighbors and Bloating Dogs

“Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden

“Do not do what you will regret. Do only what you do not regret, and fill yourself with joy.” – The Buddha

A few weekends ago, we noticed a lot of activity at our neighbor’s house across the street. It looked like she was moving, except we never saw her. Over the course of the weekend, people came, loaded trucks, left and came back and left again. Finally, all that was left were things not worth moving.

Our neighbor was quiet, friendly, and kept to herself. Every now and then we’d smile and wave to each other. Never had a conversation. Didn’t really know her.

In the subsequent weeks, some additional things were removed from the house by people we didn’t recognize. If I was not shy, I may have crossed the street and asked what was going on.

Still, I was curious, so, through the power of the internets, my wife and I searched public property records and got a name. From the name came an obituary column.

Her name was Mary. She was 50. She worked for the University. She died unexpectedly (three months prior).

I never saw her without a smile on her face. I like to believe she passed with no regrets, no worries of work unfinished.

During this period of detective work, a friend of ours noticed that her dog was experiencing signs of gastric distress while she was working at home. This friend of ours is very careful in monitoring the health of her pets and does not hesitate to rush them to the vet if she has any doubts. We are the same way. Well, it turned out that she got him to the vet not a moment too soon. His stomach had essentially twisted on itself, resulting in a life threatening condition known as bloat. If she had showered (as she was preparing to do), he would have died. Instead, she got him to the vet, they did an emergency surgery, and he’s on the way to a full recovery.

These events got me thinking about how important it is to live each day as well as we can, to not procrastinate, to not take what is important to us for granted, and to appreciate each day as a mini-life that we get to live, hopefully as a masterpiece, and with no regrets.