I'm reminded again today just have fragile life is...

On my drive to my infusion this morning (I left around 6:15 a.m.), I heard a news report on the radio that there had been an auto-pedestrian accident at an intersection very close to my house.  I didn't think much about it until my husband called around 8:00 a.m. to tell me that that section of road was blocked off (and this was more than an hour after I first heard about the accident).  I looked around on the internet to see if I could find any news reports on the accident and the only thing I found was what I already knew.  Then on my drive home I purposely drove by that section of road and it was still blocked off - there was a fire truck there and they were hosing down a section of the road.  When I got home I found that the news report had been updated and that it was a middle school gym teacher who was jogging to school and had been hit and killed!  I knew immediately that it was M&M's gym teacher.  He is in our church stake and I have frequently seen him jogging to or from the school for work.  He has been teaching at the school for 17 years.  We have seen him frequently outside of the school setting at church events and he has a son that was in the marching band with M&M.  Right after I had read that news report I got a message from M&M confirming that it was in fact her teacher.  This was her response after I asked a few questions:

"It was really sad, we passed it on our way to seminary. A couple of girls in our class were there when it happened, and when they came in they were shaking, so when our class found out it was pretty much dead silent."

I had just been commenting over the last month or two about how neat (and strange at the same time) it was to see so many people that we associate with on a non-church level at church functions.  I have seen M&M's gym teacher at numerous events both with the church and marching band in the last little while.  Even though I did not associate with him on a personal level, I am saddened to think about those people that he was close to and how it will affect them.  It really brings to home the fact that life is so very fragile and any of us can be taken home to our Heavenly Father at any time.  That fact hit me really hard last year when I was first diagnosed with cancer and even though my life has been prolonged for the moment, it is events like these that make me realize that I need to be grateful for every second that is given to me and spend my time and energy on those things and people that are most important to me.  

My thoughts and prayers are with this teacher's family & friends at this time.  I hope they will find peace and feel of Heavenly Father's love.