Enough is enough....
I have (as I do pretty much every week) read every single post on this QOTW so far, and have to concede that it has not really filled me with the urge to skip gaily down the street (although frankspencer did raise the customary smile)....

I'm with curvylittlegoth on this one - we should be celebrating the lives of our loved ones and not dwelling on the maudlin, the dire, the untimeliness of it all. Sure, the reaper is going to get us all one day - yes even YOU dear reader - some of us sooner than others, but surely this should serve as a reminder to make the most of the fact that we are alive NOW!

If nothing else, this QOTW should make each and every one of us pause to remember those we have loved and had taken away from us, before moving on to consider what it is that we find so beautiful, so worthwhile and so downright precious about the miracle of life itself...

I've suffered my share of bereavements over the course of my lifetime (I'm 46 now), hell, who hasn't, but I refuse to dwell on that now...as I sit here and type this, I can hear my 6 year old daughter singing to herself in the next room... Ten minutes ago, my 11 year old daughter passed through on her way to the kitchen, blew me a kiss, and said "love you, dad"....and do you know what folks? Those two events alone more than make up for all the pain and suffering that death has tried to wreak upon me. When was the last time you sat and truly WATCHED a sunset? Or better still, stayed up all night and watched a sunrise? Looked at a vista that you burned onto your memory for life? Felt the rain or sun on your face, and truly revelled in the feeling? Listened to music that made every hair on your body stand on end?

If you're reading this, then you are alive, and therefore doing better than pretty much everybody else who is the subject of the other posts this week. Make the most of your time here, people, because the way I see it (and trust me, I am NOT some religious nut - I am very much the atheist), you get one chance at this - it's NOT a dress rehearsal, and you really ARE a long time dead. Give death the finger and LIVE a little (or a lot) before it's YOUR turn to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Apologies for rant, but this really hasn't been my favourite QOTW.....

Re-lurk....
(Desolation Angel, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 19:35, 6 replies)

i watch sunsets all the time
it's one of the single most breathtaking experiences you can have on a daily basis.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 19:53, closed)

That was
tear-jerking.
(Dracia flailed on, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 19:54, closed)

Fantastic...

Thank you for bringing sense back from the ridiculous
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Fri 29 Feb 2008, 20:30, closed)

The thing is
out of everybody I know I think the QOTW crowd do love every minute of their lives, and having the tales they do demonstrates that. I do however feel that the occasional serious question is pretty cathartic, and a bleeding good cry in private when you're not having to hold back for fear of looking like a big girl gets all of the days frustrations out of your system. Some of the more meaningful stuff, the when did you last cry question from ages ago being a case in point, has frankly been perfect for this. So yes, the frippery and silliness is what the QOTW is all about, but everything has it's place on here.
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Fri 29 Feb 2008, 20:58, closed)

Tinypod
hear hear
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Fri 29 Feb 2008, 22:33, closed)

Vista
"Looked at a vista that you burned onto your memory for life?"

I used Vista once, the use has burnt into my memory for life - it really is bad, I prefer XP.
(Nibi, Sat 1 Mar 2008, 20:06, closed)