Reflections

This morning I received word that the long awaited death of my cousin has finally happened.

Sounds pretty morbid huh? Well, she's been practically vegetative for the last 7 or so years. It was only a matter of time. She and her son were in a horrific car crash that left her virtually comatose and her son with some minor brain damage. Unfortunately, she was DOA, but in some sadistic twist of fate, all emergency workers are required to try and revive victims when they arrive. So, instead of meeting her maker that night, she's been living in a nursing home. She improved at first and then slowly backslid. 7 years of bed sores, feeding tubes, IVs, therapies, and prayer finally led to one single IV and the advice to prepare for imminent death. This morning, she passed peacefully. Unfortunately, the son she was in the car crash with was to be married this morning. Thus, one life ends and another one begins. Life, huh?

So, on such a somber occasion, I chose to reflect on my life. Like the picture? It was one of our colts taking in his first sunrise at our house. Truly breathtaking. How many times do we take the sunrise and set for granted. We always assume there will be another one. We have too much going on, too busy, too tired, you name it and we fail to take in a spectacular scene that happens twice a day. What would happen if we all decided to watch the sun rise and set everyday. So many truly peaceful wonderful experiences could happen. But, nose to the grindstone, we ignore the most beautiful scenes in the world and all we had to do was look out a window.

For the past 26 years (and yea, I seriously had to count how old I was!) I've been living life full steam ahead. My mom refused to let me move up a grade when I was in the 2nd grade. She did it for my own good, to let me have a chance to mature. I didn't see why then, but I do now. I made a point to get good grades. I cried when I got my first B and begged for extra credit when I saw my first C. I ended up graduating with honers a year early and marrying that summer. (Yes, math gurus, that would be 17 and married) I got pregnant at 19, had our first baby at 20, and switched to a work from home job. Our second son came 2 years later, along with various problems in life. I finally started college. Life was going infuriatingly fast.

After seeing how fast life was spinning, I decided to slow down a bit. I cut school part time, spent more time with my kids, went trail riding, and generally started enjoying every minute of downtime I could get. Then, another monkey wrench. Pregnant.. again. I was not a happy camper, but my newest little bundle of joy has proved to be a blessing. He's growing so fast, it just pounds in my head how fast the time flies. Just yesterday I was BEGGING for my pregnancy to be over. Now my sweet little newborn is now a huge 3 month old, and he's only getting bigger. You know what they say about time, it marches on.

So, in memory of Sue Crawford, who's life was over way too early, I encourage everyone who has bothered to read this blog to take some time to reflect on life. Time passes way to quickly. Appreciate it while you can! Take care everyone.