Fleeting

Every Tuesday I ask my students what they did for the weekend. Today, one student said they had planned on going to a concert in Las Vegas, but couldn't go because a friend had died in a car accident. She said the friend was from Dominican Republic.

Last Saturday Nate told me about a man who was killed in a motorcycle accident. Two men were on the motorcycle and they were hit by a drunk driver, the passenger flew off the motorcycle and into oncoming traffic and was killed immediately. The man's name was Juan Ernesto Salazar Conce. Here is an article in the deseret news about this.

A few months after I started teaching I had a student named Juan Ernesto Salazar. He was in my class for about 4 months and moved through the system at our school, coming some months, not coming others, but moved to level 3 or 4. He was from Domincan Republic.

I looked up a picture of the man "Juan Ernesto Salazar Conce". He was my student. He was a man that I knew. I hadn't seen him in a few months, but now he is dead.

He had so many dreams. To get married. To get his masters degree. To get a better job. Now he can't.

It has almost been two years since Robi died. A great friend from middle school died a few months ago.

I will never see these 3 men again.

Life is so fleeting.

Grab your loved ones by the neck and hug them with all your might. Hug them and don't let go. I know I'm going to hug Nate really tight when he gets home.

Do what you love. Don't waste your time just being. Go out, find something you really love, and do it. Do it now. Whether that means finding a new job, spending less time on facebook and more time with friends, learning a new hobby, I don't care. Just do it, do whatever you have to do, to be happy now.

I hope my family knows how much I love them. With all my heart.