termina

Last Thursday, I'd gone to bed a little early to prepare for my exam in the afternoon the next day. When I checked my phone, I saw that I'd received a message from one of my sorority little sisters.

I'd decided to gtfo of New Orleans after my hell week of exams and booked an airplane ticket to North Carolina. She was supposed to pick me up from the airport on Friday night. Her message was succinct. My sister just passed away. I have to fly out tomorrow morning. Sorry, I can't pick you up from the airport.

I'd never met her blood sister before. The girl was only a year or two older than me. I heard later that she'd died in her sleep.

I talked about it with one of my friends, who's doing clinical rotations at Duke Med. How does someone in their twenties die in their sleep? Without any previously diagnosed defects?

Earlier that same night, I'd been reading articles about the German plane crash, where the co-pilot locked the pilot out of the cockpit and proceeded to crash the airplane into the mountains, killing everyone on board. No bodies were found intact, only parts and pieces scattered across the mountain. I tried to imagine how I'd feel if I knew that my brother or parents had died in that way. I could already feel the rage coiling up inside of me.

My little had received a phone call from her mother while going back home from chapter, without suspecting a thing. Her line sisters told me that all of a sudden, she'd begun to scream. They'd seen her cry before, but nothing like this. It was like a part of her was dying.

Life is too short. Whatever is plaguing you and giving you doubts right now......

Don't hold back.

Go for it.