Everyday we all go through the same routines that we have programmed into our closed minds. Perhaps it’s just what we’ve always known. Maybe it’s just because we are afraid to try something new. Or maybe it’s because we don’t have a firm grasp on reality. We think we are invincible or will live to be eighty if we live a confined and secure life. It’s natural to think this way; we all have at one point. I’ve been there many times. However one thing always seems to haunt me when I think that way: my old friend Brooke.

Brooke was one of the funniest girls I ever knew. This was because she assumed everyone in the World knew she was sarcastic so she didn’t care who she was sarcastic to. I remember one time we were sitting at lunch together when a kid next to us did the whole, I have to get every drop of liquid out of this orange juice carton through this straw. Brooke just looked at him and said, “The more you suck the straw, the more orange juice will appear.” And then she simply kept eating with a straight face. You could put everything she said in life on a t-shirt and everyone would laugh. I could write an entire novel on all the sarcastic comments she made. In addition to wanting to be around her because of her sarcasm, I thought she was good looking too. She had flowing black hair that was complimented by turquoise blue eyes; and no matter if she was happy, angry, sad, or anything in between, she always seemed to have a smile on her face. She was just one of those people that you couldn’t be upset around. Another thing to note is that Brooke was an avid swimmer. She had a pool in her backyard and was one of the best simmers at the local pool. I never wanted to race her because I knew she would beat me every time.

I met Brooke in middle school and we just seemed to click from day one. We would do school projects together, have movie nights, and go swimming in her pool a lot. I was naturally drawn to her; lets face it-what thirteen-year-old boy wouldn’t be.

It was the beginning of July and I remember it being a very hot day. However nothing was out of the ordinary and when I woke up I never suspected it was going to be one of the worst days of my young life. After dinner my parents sat me down on the couch and told me the news they received over the phone just a few hours earlier. Brooke had drowned in her pool earlier that day. Apparently she had hit her head and was knocked unconscious. The news stung and it sent my world into a tailspin. All I can remember after that was long hours alone in my room with nothing but echoes running through my head. I had so many questions that all seemed to come back to one, why?

After a couple months in a depressive state and necessary mourning I started to see the bigger picture. I hated myself because I was angry all the time. I didn’t seem to know my old life anymore. Everything was just a blurred mess created by emotion. Lying in bed one night I remembered one of my favorite quotes, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” For some reason I couldn’t get that thought out of my head and it bugged me. I didn’t want to accept my current situation, I just wanted to forget, but I had no idea how. So I turned to what most teenagers know best, denial. I denied anything and everything dealing with that tragic event, but for some reason I kept searching. I shut out my family, friends, and even common sense. One night though I was reading a book of mine that had a bunch of famous quotes and paragraphs by many different authors. Reading seemed to be the only thing that would keep my mind off of things. Video games were just big kill fests so that didn’t help. I eventually came across a quote by T.H. White in this book. It was from his work, The Once and Future King; “The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” That did it for me. I was willing to move on, but learn at the same time. I realized that anyone could die at any time for no given reason at all. Death doesn’t owe anyone any explanation and gives no warnings. While it seems simple and easy to understand this idea, people rarely grasp this concept fully. Even though I would rather have Brooke back, I can at least learn something from this unfortunate event.

If you ask one hundred people if they could go back and do something differently in their life, I guarantee all one hundred would say yes. And if you asked one hundred kids if they wanted to be behind a desk their entire adulthood all one hundred would say no. No sane person wakes up in the morning and says I wish I could be killed in a car crash on my way to a party after work. Yet it still happens. Anyone can die at anytime and for any reason. Even if you are the best swimmer in the world you can still drown in a pool. That doesn’t mean don’t swim, that just means do an extra flip off of the diving board or see how close you get to the freestyle world record. Death isn’t an excuse to live a limited safe life, but an excuse to live a life with no regrets. If you live everyday like it’s your last then you can be happy when your time comes. You only live once. How true that statement is. But are you going to live your life differently than those around you. That’s the real question.