Life--The Most Precious Gift

I don't want to bring anyone down today--especially on such a gorgeous day, at least it is here in Missouri. But, since I haven't felt that "whoopie" over the past couple of days, I decided to stay in and get some much needed organizing done. It would have been nice if I had taken advantage of the cold, yucky winter days to do this but, alas, I don't always do the smart thing.

I started my project in the laundry room where I have a built in shelving unit. This is where most anything that doesn't go somewhere else ends up. It's also where I keep all of our family photo albums. There was lots of dust and lint all around them and I wanted to be thorough, so I took them all off of the shelf to dust. I'm so proud of myself. ; ) Before I placed them back on the shelf, I decided to take a little trip down memory lane. I started with an album of Chuck and I when we were first dating back in 1968 and worked up to 1984 before I just couldn't do it anymore.

We lived in a nice home with a pool back then and every weekend in the summer was "pool party" time. We all enjoyed it so much. I especially liked the fact that the girls wanted to spend their time at home and have their friends over to our house. It was a fun time. But, as I looked at pictures taken in July of 1984, I began to realize how many people that were there then are gone now. Six people on one page: my mother, my step-father, my grandmother, two old friends and of course Chuck.

Yes, it's nice to have the photos and remember them as they were--healthy and enjoying life, but I miss them so much. The good news is, I was reminded (once again) how precious life is and why we should all give thanks every day for this awesome gift. We can't know how long we have to enjoy our loved ones or our own time on earth so we must take time in our busy schedules to spend quality time with family and friends.

And this is going to sound real "cheezy", but I don't care because this is my blog and these are my thoughts. Whenever the song "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by Garth Brooks would come on and I'd hear the last line which went "..would she know how much I loved her?", I'd look at Chuck and say "Yes". He did good--I always knew how much he loved me and he knew how much I loved him.

So, while we're here, we should also let our friends and loved ones know how much we love them. It feels good--trust me.