Putting Life into Perspective

The end of 2017 and the start of 2018 has been nothing but eye opening. Life has a habit of showing you that focusing in on what's important is all that matters. One week before Christmas our 22 year old roommate was killed in a senseless single car accident. To this day we still don't know what happened or what caused her to drive off the freeway. We only know that the night before she was full of smiles and happiness and the next day she was gone. Sadly though it took 4 days for her to pass away. She was placed on a respirator. The hospital waited for her family to arrive and to have time with her. The benefit out of this was that she was a donor. Her very healthy skin and organs will help save lives.

Then just recently the unthinkable happened. We all love Tawnee Gibson of Endurance Planet. She has openly shared her life with us through her podcast. She was so happy and rightfully so to be pregnant and expecting. Her baby made it full term. Then upon delivery the baby didn't make it. Absolutely unthinkable.

The men (boys) in the picture above are part of the Platoon our son is in. He's in the center of the picture standing up. His life is at risk every day. Marines die is accidents often. In his training, accidents can be deadly. His life started scary enough. A normal day in the house. My pregnant wife had a rough night but she seemed ok. I had my cycling clothes on ready to go ride a few hours with friends. As we sat there having coffee she began to feel worse. So bad that I bagged the ride and sent my friends off. Within an hour she was in severe pain. We called the hospital and told them we were coming in. It was Sunday morning, traffic was light. We arrived and within one hour our son was born. He was 9 weeks early and weighed 3.5 lbs. There were no smiles on the doctors, my wife or myself, only worry. They quickly checked him and then allowed me to carry him down to ICU. There he would spend a month fighting for his life.

The other day someone commented "It looks like you've developed a close friendship with your son". I told my wife and she said "I think the two of you have been fully attached since you carried him down that hall"

I worry so much sometimes about where my work life is going. I worry about getting slow. None of that matters. The only thing that matters are the people in my life especially my son in the picture and my wife who is in the Middle East right now learning Arabic and volunteering at a soup kitchen.

It's a good life.....