I did my usual Saturday morning thing. The kids were in bed (they stay over at weekends) and I probably had 10-15 minutes before their usual routine of running in and grabbing my phone to play a game.
I loaded up twitter as usual and read through a handful of tweets when one grabbed my attention. It was a retweeted tweet from a well known web person. The topic was heartbreaking.
If you follow Eric Meyer, you possibly know his family are going through a rough time at the moment as his daughter Rebecca is under treatment for a brain tumour. His blog is open and honest.
Reading it made me me realise this morning that life is fragile. We take for granted the people in our lives. We think they will be there forever and we tend to put less important things ahead of what means the most to us whether it be work, sports and other things that come and go.
I’ve had many reality checks with my own kids. My youngest was tested for eye cancer when first born. It was nothing in the end but the waiting, the not knowing was horrible. My other child, a little older spent a month in hospital with double pneumonia. Again, some of the worst days and nights of my life. As a parent, you feel helpless. You put all the trust in people to make your child better while you sit and wait.
My reason for posting this is that it’s easy to take people or things for granted. This isn’t just about children. I wish I had spent more time with my grandad…more quality time. I was too busy playing or doing something else. I should have talked to him more.
We all seem wrapped up in what we do at times. Mobile phones are a big problem for me. Nobody looks up anymore. It’s ironic that I’m sat here writing this as my kids sit and watch TV but I aim to publish this and sit with them and laugh along.
They are what should matter to me right now.