Perspective

Tonight I found out a good family friend of ours passed away in his sleep last night. I had no idea, and I even spoke to my dad on multiple occasions today. He never said a word about it to me. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he didn't know how to let me know.

Ten minutes before I heard this news, I was pissed off beyond belief. I went to Pinkberry because I had a huge frozen yogurt craving. I dropped six bucks on a decadent dessert - which I was a bit annoyed about, but I don't have it that often so it's okay. I walked out with my yogurt and I dropped my spoon. I walked back in to get another one. As I walked out, I saw a parking meter attendant at my car. He had just printed out a ticket for me because my meter was expired. Great. Now my $6 yogurt turned into $41. I yelled at the parking guy, asking him to expunge the ticket. But it was too late, already printed.

I got home and called my parents to let them know I was going to be in a clip on tonight's episode of America's Got Talent. I was excited for them to see me and a group of my coworkers on TV. Then I heard the news. I'm still in shock.

I keep thinking about how distraught I was over a parking ticket tonight. I was so mad. Now it's nothing of importance, except a reminder to me that life is short, and stop sweating the small stuff. I need to keep this top of mind in my daily life always, and not wait for something like this to put things into perspective for me.

RIP Ben.