Dear parents who come into the store I work in, I see you smacking your child when they ask a question. I hear you call your child "annoying" and I can hear you scream at them for walking too close to you because you need your "space". Dear classmates who sit near me, I hear you complaining constantly about college and how much you hate your classes. I can hear you saying you hate the college we go to because it's not a large university. Dear high school students who are dying to graduate and get out of your hometown, I promise you will miss the Friday night football games and school dances. You will miss not having any bills and your only worry being whether or not your crush liked you back. Regardless if you are a parent, a college student, a high school student, or even if you are none of the above: this one's for you.
I have news for all of you, and you aren't going to like it. You are most definitely, without question, going to miss "this". While everyone's "this" is different, wherever you are in life right now you will look back later on in life and ask yourself "why didn't I enjoy that more?" When you are ninety years old and dying, you are going to wish that you were shopping with your child, having a blast, instead of calling them annoying. When you graduate from college and five years later you have a full-time job and a mortgage to pay for instead of a part-time job with one or two bills to pay for you will look back and wish you cherished those times more than you did.
Whether you are ten or one hundred, married or single, a mom or not someday, somewhere, something is going to hit you and make you sorry that you wished away those teen years and couldn't wait to move out of your parents house. Something is going to tug at your heart strings because you will miss your little ones calling you "mommy" and "daddy" and asking you to help them tie your shoes. Something is going to jolt you in realizing that none of the big stuff really mattered in life. Nobody asks a dying person how many college degrees they have or how much money they made each year. Nobody asks a dying person how much their house cost them and how much money is leftover in their savings. When you are dying the absolute only thing that will matter is the little things. The time you took a surprise vacation away from work without worrying what happened back at the office. The time you saw your child being born, or even your grandchildren if you are lucky enough. The time you quit the job you hated and somehow survived. The time you lived fully.
You see, the moment that we are in right now is the only one that really counts because this exact moment will eventually turn into a memory. And those memories, built from the moment we exist in at this exact minute, are what we are going to look back on one day and remember. So love your babies, your mother, your father and friends. Love your family, yourself, and the life you live. Don't rush to the next stop off of the train of life without finishing the itinerary of your current destination. Life's just too short to miss it, and if you don't catch it now: you will indeed miss all of this that is happening right now.
