My Christmas Wish

I think it is the time of year...

a time when you become nostalgic, you feel warm and fuzzy, and a time when you realize life is simply not long enough.

Three years ago I lost a good friend. She was a beautiful, perfect person who I can only imagine is the most perfect angel ever. The day before Thanksgiving a local young man died, his heart had become enlarged and simply burst. I currently have an Aunt (through marriage) who is lying in a hospital bed, connected to machines, barely hanging on.

We never know, when it will be our turn to go. I used to fear death. I was raised in a house that strongly believed in God and life after death, but I was afriad to die...unless I died in a blaze of glory, I didn't want to die. Now that I am older (not wiser) I realize that I was simply afraid of dying and not being remembered. Crazy thing for a kid to worry about, but I'm crazy like that.

Although I do not want to die until I am old and grey, until my childrens, children have had their children. I no longer worry what the world will know of me, or not know. I have found by others infinte example that it is the little things. Those are the things that make people remember you, the things you don't even know you are doing.

Walked into a bakery today that my father-in-law went to almost daily, there in the case were his favorite raisen filled cookies. I couldn't help but smile. I think of the way Desi always made me laugh, and how she just made me want to be a better person. The fact that Aunt Delila would take the time to send me a little note via Facebook, or comment on my garden and share tips on how I could improve. These little things are hardly even things. I am betting that most people don't even know the impact these little things. However, they are being remembered right now, right here, and every day of my life with simple reminders.

It's almost Christmas, a time we all remember the events behind us. It is a time of beginning and ends. A time to hold our loved ones close. My wish for all that I know and love is to remember the
little things. To stop and smell the roses, to hold hands with those you love. Watch your childrens faces, they change daily. To slow life down a little, sit on your deck longer, stare at the sky longer, kiss just a little longer. We are all going to die. I hope that all who read this live longer than hoped for, but no matter what we all die. It could be tomorrow, and if tomorrow never comes make sure the ones that count will have those little things to cling to.

Death is the next adventure - but first make this life count.