Sad News

This isn't about Boo.

He and I went back to see my parents over the weekend.  Just a mommy-and-Boo trip because three whole days flanked with half days is just too much for my other half to take squished into one house.  It was great to see the family.  It was so much fun to watch Boo play with his two cousins, ages 2 and 4.  It's a lot of work to travel by yourself with a kid in tow.  We flew.  Boo was an angel on the way there because he was sleeping (ha!) and about 30% a pain in the butt on the way back since he took his nap in the car en route to the airport.  Oy.

We were hanging out at the house doing la-dee-dah-whatever relaxing and then there's a phone call then crying.  An extended family member whom we all like and hang out with had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  That's the kind that has metastasized and has been identified in two organs already.  Who? No, you mean OUR relative?  Can't be.  The silence of pure shock sets in and I'm not sure anyone is actually breathing in the room.  I think it is because we just heard a death sentence.

The news is sad and unfortunate, but at this stage in my life as a new mom, it is profoundly worse.  Life is punctuated by milestones.  Sure, we each have our own like high school graduation, turning 21, getting married, etc.  but if you add it up, there are so many more you experience achieved by loved ones than your own.  I am definitely caught up in the rat race.  Aren't we all?  It seems like so many days slip by that are lived, but not experienced mindfully.  Wouldn't it be so wonderful to be grateful for each day?  To find that something, where if you were given a short time to live, you could say, "Ok, well, I've really enjoyed my time here, but it's my time to go now."

Yeah, right.

The news made me realize that I WANT.  I want a LOT of things.  I WANT to be at my son's graduations.  I WANT to be at my sister's wedding when/if it happens.  I WANT to spend time with my nephews, and maybe one day, a niece.  And of all the things I WANT, spending time with loved ones (no matter how annoying, or what the beef is) bubbles up to the top of the list.  To think that our extended family member will not get these kinds of things is heartbreaking because we all assume that we get them.  Because we just do.  We hope for the best.

Life's not fair.  In looking up the origin of that adage, I found this article.  I'm not religious, but I do think it has several interesting points.

I am thankful for the opportunity to spend as much time as I was able to with my parents and sisters this weekend.  I am thankful to be surrounded by friends and family who are incredibly supportive.

What are you thankful for?