I didn't know them personally, but in many ways it seems as though I did. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon. They serve as a reminder of how fleeting, fragile, and unpredictable life can be. That you really do have to make the most of each and every day, because no one is guaranteed a tomorrow. That no matter what we have planned for life, it is destiny that determines if we stay, and when we go. All we really have the ability to do is to make the most of the things that we can control...

We can love and support our bodies through proper nutrition and exercise. We can fill our minds with positive thoughts - sure life stinks sometimes and hands us stuff we don't want to deal with, but we can choose to view these times as opportunities to grow and learn, instead of turning them into pity parties and an excuse to not make the most of life. We can find a way to live inspired lives by focusing on what it is we can do to make someone else's life a little better, either by doing big things like volunteering, or choosing a career that serves others - or by each day choosing to look for the good in everyone, to share a smile with everyone whose path you cross, to give of yourself and your possessions. Because it is in this kind of giving that our lives become richer, our sense of purpose stronger, our lives more meaningful.

We are not perfect, our lives are not either. It is not how life was intended to be, because if that was God's plan, it would be. I think we were put on this earth not only to learn lessons, but to be lessons. For me Michael Jackson became the lesson that money and fame can't buy the really valuable things in life. Farah Fawcett demonstrated that medicine alone can't heal us, that healing is a function of the body, mind and spirit. And from Ed McMahon I learned that it's far better to laugh than cry.

Iam saddened to think that these talented, larger than life people are gone. But they aren't really because their contributions to the world will live on. And I also find peace in knowing that Heaven is now filled with a bit more rhythm, beauty, and laughter. ~ Andrea :-)