Life is short. And precious.
I’ve been reminded of this far too much in the last two months.
Ava lost a classmate.
This morning I read the blog of a friend who posted about a baby that is gone.
I saw a Facebook post from a friend whose mom died 2 years ago today. I still remember texting with her as she asked how I survived.
I just spent the weekend celebrating the life of my Uncle. I watched my cousin who is my age mourn for his dad. It hurt. A lot.
I know his pain.
This year will be 6 years since my mom left.
Why do you want to wait to make amends? Why hold grudges? Why be stubborn to make a point? When it’s all said and done and your loved one is hanging on and can’t respond, it’s too late to get the closure you need to say your sorry, to tell them you love them more than life.
Live your life knowing that the ones you love know that you love them. Apologize for the things that you’ve done. Put them behind you and move forward.
I’ve struggled with being out of the office so much while the girls are sick. I’ve felt terribly guilty about it. But I’ve also come to peace with the fact that while I’m home, I’ll be there. The house stuff can wait. So what if the dishes are a mess? Work will continue without me there, and I’m not going to feel (as) bad about not being there. My girls are number one. Always. They’ll only be little for a minute.
Don’t wait for that special occasion to let your kids wear that special outfit that you bought. Don’t wait to decorate the house to make it your own. Heather wrote a great post about that here. You don’t need a holiday to make a turkey dinner. You don’t need an excuse to send someone a card just to say hello.
Hug your babies and your loves hard. Mean it. Don’t stay mad. Try to laugh when they make you want to scream.
Pick up the phone and call your grandma just because.
Call your parents. Often.
Don’t wait. Live.
Well said. My motto is: “Hug your loved ones tight and often; tell them that you love them always; and be good to yourself. Life is too short for anything less.”
Such a great motto. You know all too well. Hug.
Agreed… nothing more to say…
Amen sister.
Thank you friend! You wrote what I wish I could have said.
You said it perfectly. Thank you.
This is a beautiful reminder to not take the people in our lives for granted.
Love. You Jess
Back at you, honey.
And now I’m crying. This is a beautiful post, Jess, and an important lesson to us all.
Definitely. The past two months have been filled with far too much death. I’m not sure how much more clear the reminder can be for me. I’m trying.
*hug*
It’s sad, but we need reminders like this.
Absolutely. Thanks friend.
Trying not to cry into my glass of wine. This post is wonderful. I try to do this but in the midst of life, dishes, cleaning, school, work, etc I can forget about what’s important. I love how open you are on your blog and I love your writing. Thanks for the wonderful post.
Thank you so much! It’s hard to put things on hold, but some days you just have to, if only for a moment.
What a beautifully written post. It’s so true yet share sometimes to remember! xox
I love this post. Any kind of reminder to live in the present, fully, really hits home for me. I need these kinds of reminders once in a while. Every day would be nice, actually!
As the anniversary of the death of my grandfather, who was like a dad to me, approaches, the one consolation I have is that I have no regrets with him. I am happy that we spent so much time together, when he was well and when he was sick.
Over the years, as various close relationships of mine have fallen apart, I’ve struggled to forgive & move beyond the hurt. It is something I will always be working on. I think it’s important. Scratch that–it is crucial.
This is such a great message. I think sometimes we get too caught up in things to do that we forget to live in the present and take of those we love.
You are 100000000% right. And we need to think about this every.single.day. Love ya pal.
Sweet reminder. Love your blog. I think our virtual connection these days to both people we know and people we don’t but whose lives we read about online brings a lot of these sad stories to our eyes. It’s always a great reminder to treasure life!
Thank you so much! I am so grateful for the connections we make through the internet too. It’s really such a wonderful network of people. Looking forward to checking yours out too!
I’ve been wanting to write a post kind of like this. More along the lines of don’t take things for granted. What a rough 2 months! I hope things turn around!
Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment and wishes!