Maybe you noticed the mini-vacation I took from blogging last week? Well, actually, you probably didn't. However, I would like to make it very clear that it was definitely not a vacation. No, no, it was more like a trip to the brink of death and back. (Ok...that might be a slight exaggeration, but only slight!) I ran a high fever (which no medicine ever helped bring under 101*) for THREE days. My body ached so badly all over, and the pain in my throat I later described to the Mr. as comparable to the intense labor pains I experienced with my daughter's birth in which I used no medication whatsoever. I literally thought I might die, although I still refused to go the doctor because I knew if I went to the doctor, he would say, "If you just would have given it another day, you would have been all better!" At any rate, I survived (after I finally went to the doctor)! My house did not, but I am a survivor!
At one point during my sickness, I asked Evvie to call the Mr. and tell him to come home. My pain was unbearable, and the kiddos were trying to be good, but it just wasn't quite working, you know. She came back and said, "Dad said he'll be home in a few minutes." My disrespectful, and, I assure you, quite unusual response (due to the hallucinations brought on by the intense pain) was, "Tell your Dad a few minutes won't cut it!" (That sounds like a labor phrase, right?) My sweet Evvie put her hand on my back and began rubbing it while telling me, "It's OK, Mom. You know he'll come as fast as he can." And she sat beside me until the Mr. came home. There are so many things I have that I don't deserve, and my sweet Evvie is definitely at the top of that list! Even though I was fairly certain that she hated me the first three years of her life, we have both grown and matured together, and now I feel fairly certain that one day (in the not so distant future) she will be my closest kindred spirit. She is sooooo much like me already. Very idealistic, unrealistic, romantic, sentimental, starry-eyed, bossy - she has a plan for everybody and every creature within her domain. She even has the "Cousin Jeremy" laugh (if you can call it a laugh) that my parents used to tease me about, and she hasn't even had the privilege of meeting Cousin Jeremy.
At one point during my sickness, I asked Evvie to call the Mr. and tell him to come home. My pain was unbearable, and the kiddos were trying to be good, but it just wasn't quite working, you know. She came back and said, "Dad said he'll be home in a few minutes." My disrespectful, and, I assure you, quite unusual response (due to the hallucinations brought on by the intense pain) was, "Tell your Dad a few minutes won't cut it!" (That sounds like a labor phrase, right?) My sweet Evvie put her hand on my back and began rubbing it while telling me, "It's OK, Mom. You know he'll come as fast as he can." And she sat beside me until the Mr. came home. There are so many things I have that I don't deserve, and my sweet Evvie is definitely at the top of that list! Even though I was fairly certain that she hated me the first three years of her life, we have both grown and matured together, and now I feel fairly certain that one day (in the not so distant future) she will be my closest kindred spirit. She is sooooo much like me already. Very idealistic, unrealistic, romantic, sentimental, starry-eyed, bossy - she has a plan for everybody and every creature within her domain. She even has the "Cousin Jeremy" laugh (if you can call it a laugh) that my parents used to tease me about, and she hasn't even had the privilege of meeting Cousin Jeremy.
So, why am I rambling on and on about all of this? Because it is life. It is memories being stored up. And as I recall these memories I am reminded that...
Life is hard. Life is not what you expected it to be. Life is fun. Life is complicated. Life is simple. Life is good. Life is difficult. Life is full. Life is empty. Life is love. Life is death. Life is beautiful. Life is precious. And without any one of these descriptions in our lives, life would not be complete. Most of all, I am reminded that life. is. short.
Life is only given to me this one time.
I need to embrace all of life - the difficult, the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly! I need to live my life fully and boldly. I need to live my life with no regrets. I need to live my life with high expectations. I need to live my life in pursuit of excellence! Every second counts! There is not one moment brought into my life that is a wasted one. God uses all of it! Today, I am going to embrace all of life, and I will allow every moment of my day to be used for the pursuit of excellence!
But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:13b-14
Wishing you a day full of blessings,
Christy
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