Facing death

Someone your own age

You learn that a friend your own age has died, taken in a matter of days. At the service, one detail catches you: he had plans, a trip already booked, a life he believed lay whole ahead of him, just as you believe yours does. That evening, alone, sleep will not come. For the first time in a long while, it is no longer death in general that occupies you, but your own, suddenly real. You stay there, with the thought. What do you do with it?