perspective

life moves pretty fast in my house.  i don't know how it happens, but sometimes there are days that go by where i have the thought "MAN, i forgot to talk with sharon about that AGAIN!"  do you feel me?  our 5 kids span the ages of 3 to 14.  i have 2 jobs.  sharon and i build the photography business together.  schedules, friendships, pets, life...all at a fever pitch.  but there are moments in life that bring all of that into perspective.

on sunday, we found out that an old friend of ours had died last week in an auto accident. he was my age.  married, father of 3. and to top it off, his wife has been battling cancer for the last few years...and now she will continue that fight alone.  i can't imagine it.

as i've been processing this tragedy over the last few days, i found myself imagining if i was in their situation.  if something happened to me....or sharon....how would (could) life for our family continue to move forward? i even asked sharon last night if she knew how to get in touch with our life insurance agent.

for me, these questions are just hypothetical as i deal with my own sense of loss.  for my friends wife and kids, it's a reality that they now live in. but either way, tragedy has a sobering power to bring life's view down to a needle point.  it's simple to sift through the unnecessary and the unimportant...for a time.

i think for me, the real key is to live with this perspective.  i don't mean to live life in mourning, or downcast....but live life where it's easy to see the difference between the unnecessary and truly important.

listen longer.  speak slower.  hug more often.  respond to the moment, not the text message.

keep it clear.....keep it right in front of you...and don't let go.