Making every moment count.

I'm warning you now, I'm going to start this post out on a sad note. It's not usual that something so bad happens that it's all I can think about for a week but that's exactly what happened this past weekend. I concluded that I have to include it in this blog because it has affected me to the point of changing the way I see things. At least for a time.

This past week I heard some heartbreaking news. An old friend of mine from High School was killed in a motorcycle accident at an intersection not far from my home. When I read about it, I couldn't get it out of my mind for days. I thought about the loss at work, at home, and especially when I drove my kids around town. Caring, considerate, respectful Mike...the guy who took my sister to the Spring banquet her senior year just to make sure she wouldn't miss it, the same guy who would walk my sister and me to our car to keep us safe and who randomly stopped by to say "hi" to my parents if he drove past their street. I had lost touch with Mike for a long time. To have the memories and the loss come back all at once, in one fell swoop, I was shaken into realizing, once again, how short this life on earth really is. So, the action I took to this realization was small, but resolute. I would take advantage of every moment, putting aside those "have to get done" things...only for a while...and spend time doing things, albeit small things, to make the most of those  moments that are fleeting, yet oh, so important.

I will tell you about one specific moment, not because I was the perfect mom or make the perfect choices all the time (I'm definitely a disappointment to myself at times) but, with this loss fresh in my mind, I made one choice that created a wonderful memory.

The Tuesday after the accident, I was walking Mikayla to school and she mentioned to me that she really needed a sweater. It was cold! Of course, the 2 minutes before we left to walk to school, she could have grabbed one but the 30 minutes before those 2 minutes were so full of procrastinating that she just didn't remember or have time (can you just see me rolling my eyes? It's a common occurrence that is getting to be routine). So, I promised to bring her one when I came to drop Tyler off at Kindergarten. Later that morning, I ended up having to bring her sweater, myself, to the room since they had no one to deliver it and I caught her and her friends coming out of their room to go to an assembly. She asked me, pleadingly, if I could join them for lunch. Everything in me wanted to say, "no, after working 27 hours this weekend and having to take care of your little sister, I really don't want to come and sit on a bleacher with 100's of screaming children" but I stopped to think about the "moment" that I would miss. I didn't want to miss it. So I came to lunch..and I laughed with the girls, and I ate lunch with them, and I watched them play soccer. At the end of recess,  do you know what I regretted? Nothing. Not a single thing. Not a single moment. Now, I know it can't be done every day due to rules and all that stuff, but, for that day, it was satisfying to my soul.

After the school visit, I took a few photos of the "little things" that make me laugh: those things that cause me to admire and appreciate my children and their creativity, the uniqueness that makes them who they are. Here are the moments I captured instead of washing the continuous stream of dirty dishes or picking up the millionth toy...

Tyler and Lynnea playing "bat & dragon" - apparently they got tired and had to take a nap.

Mikayla dancing to the music from the movie, "Rio." Trust me, there were many more dance moves. It was hard to choose just 4.

Then it rained and they were so excited to go outside and use their umbrellas that Nana gave them for Christmas. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of another day...even when it rains.