Last Time

If you open up my kitchen cabinet you will see our life mapped out on the little lines of the family calendar. On many of the days the lines are full. And I am certainly not bragging. It almost seems wrong. But we have 6 people in the family and 9 lines for each day. Do the math. It is not hard to fill.

One of the things on the calendar yesterday, was a meeting at church. The speaker made a point that hit home. She talked about how we celebrate and document firsts in our lives...first tooth, first day of school, first kiss. But what if we new the last time we would do something...would we celebrate and cherish those events? The last time our child would want us to snuggle, the last time we would hold our spouses hand, the last time we would have dinner with our parents. I would certainly want to celebrate those! But we seldom know when that last moment will happen.

But back to my calendar in the cabinet. On what line to I fit those celebrations so I can find them?

Yesterday afternoon I received a text from Connor asking for a "big favor"...food before his volleyball game (not the first or last time that request has been made). So rushed in between every other errand I had to do, and picked up his burger and chocolate shake, got him from school, and headed out to the park where we laid under trees, ate, and talked.

Reality is my days are so busy it is hard to imagine there will be a last for anything. It just seems like the list gets filled with more and more and it will never end. But I need to find on those lines, the opportunities to hold tight to the moments that are in between all the scheduling, or maybe find it in the schedule, because my kids are getting bigger and there will be a last time that I will go to the park with my teenager. Hopefully today is not the one. But reason to celebrate anyway.