Carpe Diem indeed

I was thinking about my friend Mike today. I think of him often here actually because the last time I was in Paris I was with him. We were 16 and in the final days of a month-long stay in France that had been mostly taken up by a senior-level high school French course in Nice. Thirty 16-year-old Torontonians. Yes, it was a riot.

Mike was a golden boy. He was extraordinarily smart; he was driven; he was thoughtful and nice to everybody, no matter who they were, where they came from, or what he could get from them. He was fun to be around and always making jokes; he cheered me up many times. He was athletically talented and attractive.

We became quite close during that trip, and though we saw each other rarely afterwards, he always kept a special place in my heart. I was utterly disappointed when he chose to turn down Harvard for the School of Foreign at Georgetown. The boy Mike that I had known when we were 16 turned into an even more impressive adult Mike.

He would have loved what I am doing in Paris. He would loved that I am taking this year off between university and graduate school to travel the world, to take time for myself. When if not now, he would have said. He was a doer, someone who took action - he seized the day.

Mike died this summer. Walking along a beach with his mother, he was struck by lightning.

I try to live every day inspired by his memory. I try to think about what he would have done, what he didn't get to do. I try to live my life better because he lost the opportunity to live his.

Mike would have said go, experience, live. Seize the day.