Tick tock. Tick tock. Another second, minute, hour, and day passes by. One day it's the middle of June. Then, before you know it, it's already Christmas time again. Time seems to keep moving faster and faster. We go to school, graduate, and before you know it, we have our own families to support. Time never seems to stop progressing, but this week, time stopped for me.
I have a very close relationship with my grandpa. He is my hero and my best friend. This summer, I decided to spend my break away from home, working a job at my college to save up some money for my favorite things, like concerts, road trips, and clothes. Things were going well. I was working 40 hours a week, hanging with my friends, and having an overall great time. It felt good to be back on campus at my university. But, one day this week, I received a call from my dad, explaining my grandpa had been rushed to the hospital.
Time stopped for me. I forgot where I was and what I was doing. Everyone seemed to continue on with what they were doing. They had no idea that I had just received terrible news. They had no idea that for a moment I saw nothing and no one. All I could think about was how I had been spending my time for the past 20 years.
Life is such a precious thing. One day you're here, one day you're gone. The moment that I realized my grandpa's health was in danger made me question whether or not I had taken every opportunity I had to spend time with him. I questioned how I had spent my time the last few weeks and if it had been valuable and memorable.
As we hit our college years, our time involves less with family and more with friends. But, this is acceptable. We are experiencing new things at new places with new people. I know that my family wants me to have the college experience, and I have defiantly had a wonderful times so far. So, it's OK to put yourself out there and gain that college experience with new friends. What's not OK is forgetting to value your family.
So, as I received that horrible news, my eyes were opened. I knew that my focus, for a few weeks, should be on nothing but family. So, I took off work, packed up my car, and headed home to have some much needed family time. It hit me that I had been selfish this summer. I was so worried about doing the things that I wanted that I forgot I had a family at home that I needed to spend time with.
We all are going to die one day; that's a given fact of nature. But, what we do between the time we are born until the time that we die us up to us. Will we find the cure for cancer? Will we travel to every country? Will we sit by our grandpa's side and recall wonderful memories while we are waiting for the test results? Yes, I want to change the world. However, I will not forget the ones who changed MY world while doing so. My family made me into the person that I am today, so wherever I go in life, I will always keep the values they taught with me.
As for me, from now on out, I will value the time I'm given with my family. I never want something bad to happen to make me realize how lucky I am for every second of every day that God gives me.
