Thursday, March 1, 2012

Reality Check

Sometimes we need a reality check.

Last night after the kiddos were tucked in bed and before I tucked myself, I sat alone for a few minutes at my kitchen counter indulging in a little late night graham cracker and milk treat.  As I casually flipped through my newest Women's Running magazine that just came in the mail, I came upon an editorial that struck a cord.  The guy had just finished running a marathon - a race for which he had seriously trained for months and in which he fully expected to hit a new PR and qualify for Boston.  However, he had an "off" day on the course and missed his qualifying time by 2 minutes.  Two minutes.  During the car ride home from the race, he went on and on about his dissapointment, what went wrong, the woes of not qualifying by such a small margin, etc., until finally his wife broke in after an hour and said, "You may only do this for one day and then you have to stop.  Your sister would give anything to be able to run, and you just did 26."  The man's sister suffered from a life changing illness the prior year and was no longer able to run - at all.

Today, part two of the reality check hit.  Today marks the one year annivesary of my sister in law, Lacey's, most unselfish act.  On her 29th birthday, March 1, 2011, she donated her kidney to her dad and saved his life.  I still cannot talk about it or think about it or read about without tearing up.  At the time, she was a single mother of three young children, her baby not even one year old, engaged to be married.  Only 29 years old.  A friend commented on her tribute Facebook post today:  "Nothing compares...the most unselfish act known to man.  I laugh when people talk about sacrifice...until we all start giving away body parts we can't even speak."

We watched a short little video clip from the LDS website on Monday night at the conclusion of my FHE lesson on the family.  It was titled, "What Matters Most."  All this gives me cause to reflect and make sure that I am focused on what matters most:  my health, my family, my conviction, my faith.

Truly, I am blessed beyond measure.  The luckiest girl I know...for sure.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the reminder. I always throw little pity parties, and it's good to have some perspective.

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