Remember me talking about the Mitch Albom book, The Time Keeper? That is a really fantastic book, people. Read it.
There is a line in the book that got me. If I knew how to do the “highlight text” thing with my Kindle, I would have highlighted this:
“There is a reason God limits our days.”
“Why?”
“To make each one precious.”
I remember distinctly a moment in the hospital with Hudson. I was walking through the NICU to get to her, rounding the corner into her room, and I had this out-of-body thought:
“Be present in this moment. You will want this moment again.”
Those three days with Hudson were so incredibly precious. And sure enough, I do want to go back to that moment, to live in those three days, where time just stopped for our baby girl, where work didn’t matter, bills didn’t matter, whatever you had going on at home didn’t matter, all that mattered were these precious days with Hudson.
My husband stayed up all night with me as I went through labor. Hudson was born at 3:50 am, whisked off in a helicopter to Spokane by 7 am. The Hubs and his parents drove after her, and the Hubs didn’t sleep. He got to the NICU, spent time with her as they waited for me to arrive, and he was urged to get some rest, get some sleep, you’ll feel better.
He told me his response was:
“What if this is her whole life? I want to be with her as much as I can, if this is all I get.”
Profound words from the Big Bear.
Because her whole life was spent in a hospital, and each one of those days was precious, and I’d trade the scant hours of sleep we got in that hospital for more time with our baby. If I’d have known how limited her days would be I would have skipped the sleep, I wouldn’t have taken that trip to the hospital cafeteria, I’d trade that lousy frozen yogurt for 5 more minutes with Baby Dub.
Thinking of my husband’s perfect words: “What if this is her whole life…” it applies whether you have 3 days or 300.
This is your whole life. This is your only life, right now, not after this, that or the other thing has happened or is accomplished. This is all you get.
Make each day precious.
One of my favorite pictures of Hudson
Baby Dub 