When you die, how do you want to be remembered? People don’t think much about that until it’s their time. For my friend David, his time came too soon. I’ve known David since I was 13-years-old. I had a crush on him and he seemed to really like me, too. We dated for a few months, and for some reason that I do not know, we broke up. Although, we weren’t together, we stayed in touch from time to time. We wouldn’t speak for months, sometimes even a year, but, somehow, one of us always ended up reaching out to the other.
When David and I got back in touch, there was no separating us. We’d talk on the phone all night about nothing. He’d find a way to come visit me and we’d sit outside my house talking for hours, sometimes he’d take me to the movies or out to eat. But, of course, we’d end up losing contact again and would go about our lives. That was fine though, because in the back of our minds, we were always thinking of each other.

The last time David reached out to me was one time I would remember forever. We hadn’t spoken in about a year and some months. I was sitting in my bed, flipping through a magazine, and listening to music when my phone rang. The number wasn’t saved in my phone, and I had no idea who it was. But, I answered anyway.
“Hello?”
“Hey, is this Ciara?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“It’s David.”
I was surprised to hear his name, and a smile crept on my face.
“Hey, oh my goodness, I haven’t spoken to you in forever.”
He asked how I was doing and we had small talk. I could tell by his voice that something was wrong, though. Just as I was about to ask, he says, “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I have cancer.”
The words hit me like fists in slow motion. I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked. We sat there silent for the longest time, and I finally whispered, “How?” He told me he didn’t know and that he didn’t really feel like talking about it. I respected how he felt and had to find it in myself to push it to the back of my mind and talk about something else. We spoke for the shortest time we’ve ever spoken on the phone, and said our goodbyes for the day. I thought hard about it for the next two days. I finally called him back and we had a long serious conversation about the situation. He promised he would go back to the doctor and do what he could. Months passed, and this time I didn’t lose contact. We talked almost every day. Even though he promised, he never went back to the doctor.

As the months went by he became sicker. I was trying to be strong for him, so I never let him see or hear me cry. He kept a smile on his face, though. He ended up doing things he always wanted to do, like following through with his artwork. He was a great artist. He was spending more time with his family and doing things for his mom and sisters. He went to church more and changed his life around.
The saddest part was knowing he was going to die. The day that David passed away was one of the toughest days of my life. I was in school when I got the call and if felt like my heart fell through my stomach. I couldn’t stop crying. My mom had to come get me from school. I wished that David wouldn’t have waited until his dying days to make his life the way he wanted it.

He is an actual example of how life can take a turn for the worse. So, live your life to its fullest potential everyday because you never know what could happen.