Thursday, December 13, 2012

Leap: Born to Die



Leap: Born to Die

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.
- Henry Van Dyke

I always knew that my mother and I shared a birth date. It never really occurred to me when I was younger just how strange that was or that that strangeness was amplified by the fact that we shared such an unusual birthday, a day that only came once every four years.

For seven generations every woman in my mother's bloodline had been born on Leap Year Day.
The only thing more strange than this is the fact that all of these women, including my mother, also died on this day.

My mother's vision was right on both counts, she did die that night and I did try to save her but I couldn't and he killed her right in front of me. He killed her on the night that marked my sixteenth year of existence and my fourth proper birthday. He would have killed me too had he not been interrupted.

I may have cheated death on that particular occasion but it wasn't long before I was forced to come to terms with the fact that I was born to die.
now.