Life is short and precious...

After having a nice dinner last night with my folks and children, the kids and I were on the way home and upon entering I-80 eastbound I could see a huge billow of black smoke. By the time we got to the next exit I could see it was a vehicle on fire blocking four lanes of traffic. Turns out it was a semi burning and by the time we got to it about 20 minutes later there wasn't much left of the cab or trailer and I could not help be feel sorrow for any lives lost.

While I sit here the next day plowing through another set of data listening to my Ipod the song "Live like we're dying" by Kris Allen came on. The Lyrics go something like this...

Live Like We're Dying Lyrics

Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's to late, it's not too late ...

... Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution,
There'll no one on the line, yeah

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying...

... You never know a good thing till it's gone
You never see a crash till it's head on
Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it's gone...

I think of things I have heard this week like the woman in such a hurry that she takes a chance running in front of a train only to be hit. Or the young woman whose last act was to attempt to send a text message while driving. I don't know what happen on the interstate last night, but someone made a mistake and it probably cost a life.

So to get to my point which really isn't all that morbid...
I will be the first to tell you that taking calculated risks is a good thing, and that putting yourself out there to experience life is a good thing. But when it comes to self preservation we all sometimes need to make better decisions. We need to focus more when we drive, wear helmets when be bike, get some sort of exercise and balanced diets to keep ourselves healthy.

We need to do a better job (we means me...) to yell less and play more with our kids, to tell the people we care about how much we love them, to try to live each day to the fullest... for me that meant quitting a job that stressed me out, moving across the country on a chance that a better option would present itself, and surrounding myself with people who love me unconditionally.

I try to reflect each day and remind my kids how good things are, how precious our time together is. I try to reach out to my friends and family as often as I can even if it is a silly ecard for some random holiday. I try to find activities that help fill me up so I can be a better person, a better mommy, daughter, and spouse.

Last year I listened to the book The Secret which is probably classified as self help... the premise of the book is that we bring about the things we fixate on... if we think negative thoughts than negative things happen, if we focus on our ailments than our ailments will consume us, but if we focus on the positive, set SMART goals and put a plan in action and follow it, we can make our lives what we want them to be even when faced with a horrible illness like cancer. We can choose to fight and to stay positive and help others see how precious life is like my wonderful Uncle Jim.

So I put forth this challenge to you... sit and reflect on what is important to you. What would devastate you if it were suddenly taken from your life... and vow to do a better job of growing as a person, of letting the people who are important in your life share in your thoughts and your love. Never stop growing as a person...

To my family and my friends I love you dearly and value having you in my life.

As always comments are welcome... thanks for listening to me my friends.