"I don't care how old someone is when they die, it is always too soon." 

And it comforted me. 

When I really took a look at what Mamane taught me, I realized that the biggest lesson was "POR QUE NO?"  Roughly translated, it was said, with a nonchalant shoulder shrug, and a nod of her head - "SURE, WHY NOT?"

Well into her 100's, we would ask her to do things.  Maybe go somewhere new, or eat something new, or try something new.

And she'd say "POR QUE NO?"

Her last decade (ahem, her NINETIES), was marked by new things.  She would go cabin-camping with the rest of family to the YMCA in Estes Park, Colorado.  She actually got into a canoe with me and some of her other grandchildren.  She tried grass and dirt flavored "Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans" - jelly belly candies fashioned after the Harry Potter books.  She could NOT figure out why someone would make a candy that tastes like grass.  Just shook her head.  But she tried it!  Her life was marked with things like this. SHE WOULD TRY SOMETHING NEW.

So, I'm impacted by this simple philosophy. 

I teach it, I believe in it.  And her life lesson cemented it for me. 

I pass this on to you - the next time you have an opportunity to try something new.  Something that you've never tried.  Something that scares you, just a little...

POR QUE NO?