The gifted Angels pitcher tragically lost his life yesterday, a day after pitching the game of his life

SCOTT JACOBS

It’s the type of story that eats away at your soul and just breaks your heart into hundreds of millions of pieces.  Nick Adenhart’s story, and his stunning death is the the anti-Disney story, the “they didn’t live happily ever after reaching their dream” tale that is so devastatingly unfortunate, you can’ help but look yourself in the mirror and question what it means for you to be alive.

We all have our own set of dreams and goals in life, and we work our tails off and make incredible sacrifices to put ourselves in position just to give ourselves a chance to obtain our dream.  Which is why Adenhart, the young, rising Angels rookie pitcher is a tragic cautionary tale, that we should always keep in mind.

The moral to the story?  Life isn’t always about your goals, and your dreams.  In fact, many times, life doesn’t care about your goals and your dreams.  What other way could you explain Adenhnart, who dreamed of making the big leagues, finally got there, and four starts into what looked like a potentially special career, had his life cut short by a car accident.

It doesn’t matter now how many great pitches he had, how much money he had, or even what he could have been as a pitcher.  What matters is that we use this as another important reminder that life is but a flicker.  It can go out at any time, and it’s uber important that while we strive for our  future, and work hard for what could be, that we appreciate what we have in the “now.”

Life is not about going through the motions.  It’s not about becoming a robot.  Life is what you make it.  Though the time we’re given on this earth is unknown, it’s important that we enjoy our lives.  Because when you get through the hardest part, and feel the best is yet to come, it may be tragically cut short.

I was reading an interesting little book today that said don’t plan on relaxing, just relax.  In other words, there will always be things that need to be done, but it’s important that you take the time to appreciate life.  Take the time to have fun with it.  Life isn’t supposed to be about cubicles and scantrons that drive you on the verge of insanity.  It’s not about doing what you hate just so you can get by.

Yes there are certain parameters that guide our lives such as money, but it’s so important to keep things in perspective.  The economy sucking is not the end of the world.  Life shouldn’t just be one big struggle.  We should enjoy the ride.  Because when it ends, it ends.

Even if you’re a brilliant rookie pitcher with a seemingly brilliant future ahead of you, who is on his way to a life of opportunity many of us will never probably know, it can all be taken away just like that.

It’s sad.  It’s dispiriting, and it’s the reality that we live with each and every day.  So be serious, but don’t take life too, too seriously.  Because in the long run, will anyone remember 100 years from now some of the stuff that you’re panicking over now?

I’d say no, probably not.

Nick Adenhart was 22.

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