Our final night in Philly my mother snuck into the hospital to spend the night with my Dad, Nellie retired early to bed, and I changed out of my sweatpants to meet up with Par Mahr where he was working for dinner. Of all the Mahr Family, Par is probably the one that I have spent the least amount of time with. I hang with his parents, Jim + Kate quite often. Jim played music at my parents wedding, and I have had the privilege to play with him at local venues over the past few years. Kate rarely misses any of our shows, and I always get to hang with her at the Dead Dog when the boys are playing. Jim + Kate have 5 kids: Zoe, Christian, Par, Owen and Nolan. Zoe is a doctor at Temple...she has traveled to all corners of the world and is as kind and compassionate as she is beautiful. Christian and I have been playing music together since the day I picked up the guitar - he completes me...musically, that is. Owen and I went from pre-school all the way through high school together. His passing was the first experience that I ever had with death...too soon, too abrupt, and difficult to understand. Nolan is the youngest - but the sassiest by far. He's also a joy to play music with and he is ALWAYS available as a shoulder to cry on, an amazing listener, and damn he always knows how to make you laugh. So as you can see - the family is pretty epic. Intelligent, talented, passionate and caring. Anyways...I digress. Par works at a bar/restaurant in Rittenhouse...PARC (on 18th and Locust). I decided that I needed a night away from the hospital, and a chance to catch up with the one Mahr I don't know all too well. We connected, of course! I sat at the bar and he treated me to the most delicious dinner! Escargot and a warm shrimp salad - along with their housemade baguettes {SO DELICIOUS!}. I had two glasses of Beaujolais and to top it off he sent me home with a Roasted Chicken dinner for my mother {because she'd been living on crappy hospital food, refusing to leave my dad}. He got done work early and we headed down the street to grab a few pints and talk some more. Well, he obviously had fabulous things to say, but one thing he said really resonated with me....
"I have always looked at life like a loan. You are born with this loan - and you only have it for a limited time...one day you have to give it back. It seems unfair, but really...that's the contract. But you get to keep all of the memories and happiness and relationships you have created and enjoyed, they are yours, free! Forever!"
Death - the one and only thing that we are guaranteed in life. You may or may not fall in love, get married, have children, make lots of money, own a home, travel the world....nothing like that is guaranteed. So why is the one guarantee in life, the one thing that we absolutely know is inevitable, so very difficult to understand and accept? So, me....starting today I'm looking at life like a loan. Yep, I gotta give it back - but everything I do before that day I give it back is all mine. All the love and adventure and memories...all mine.
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