It does not have to be anything major, we don't have to step into their shoes entirely. For instance, whenever my Grandma cooked a meal and had the family for dinner (she was a GREAT cook, by the way) she would always work tirelessly to prepare a meal for everyone to enjoy. There was always a favorite for each person. Mine was no-bake chocolate macaroons. A day or so in advance she would whip up a batch and store them in the fridge in Tupperware containers until my Dad and I would devour them together. I always had to share them with my Daddy, but I didn't mind, it was a special time for both of us, as we raced to see who could eat the most. Coincidentally, he always let me win. When everyone was finished eating, we all got up to help clear the table and as soon as the table was cleared she would make us all sit back down. This was a time for family to come together and share what was going on in each others' lives. A time to "be" a family, and to ?enjoy? each others' company, to talk and laugh. She didn't get to see us as often as she would have liked and she made sure there was time to "visit'. What would MY family be like if I carried on that tradition and ensured that we all spent "family" time together instead of jumping up to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned? It seems everyone went their own directions after dinner, usually in a hurry. Time was always short, maybe because I didn't make the most of it?

Our BUSY, BUSY lifestyles these days are robbing us of much needed values and we don't even realize it. Like a thief in the night. My Grandma didn't care about the dishes in the sink or the house that the kids were turning upside down. She would say, let them be, they aren't going anywhere. She wanted ?time? with her family, that was more important than those dishes. Time had value then.

My Daddy was an over-the-road truck driver. We were lucky if we seen him every week-end, most times it was two weeks and sometimes more before we saw him. I remember he would walk in all tired and ready for some good food and sound sleep. After a good night of sleep though, he was ready to get up and cook us all a huge breakfast, everything you could imagine was on that table before us kids went to church. When we got home, Mom would have Sunday dinner on the table and we would eat and clean up before we spent the rest of the day with Daddy. Sometimes he would have work that had to be done before he went back out on the road and there would not be ?time? for us to have play time with Daddy. Instead he would just include us in whatever he was doing, whether it was washing the big truck or chopping wood in the winter. Whatever it was, I can tell you we enjoyed it. Play or work, Daddy ?made? it fun. The fact that we did not have as much time with our father as other kids did with theirs, enhanced the relationship even more, we ?enjoyed? our ?time? together. So why then, did I not make the ?time? with my own children ?more enjoyable??

My husband Chris and I were to be married in May of 2003. My Daddy was too ill to travel for the wedding. We found out just months before, that Chris's Dad had a deadly tumor in his brain. We were going to lose him soon. We didn't know what to do. Time was of the essence. We went ahead and married with Chris's Daddy walking me down the aisle. Just days after the wedding, on June 4, 2003, my daughter gave birth to my very first grandson. Coincidentally, this was also my Daddy's birthday. What a birthday surprise, to have your first great-grandson born on your birthday! Now when I think about it I like to think that the good Lord worked it out so I would see my Daddy once more before he took him home. Our ?honeymoon? was traveling to PA to see our grandson and my Daddy. I got to see my Daddy hold his great-grandson, his ?birthday present? that he was so very proud of. That was one of the last times we would see him well. That August we lost Chris's Dad. We were devastated that we didn't have more time. When we went back to my Dad's in October, he was in very poor condition and I knew from looking at him that ?time? for him was running out. We spent a week with him and had to go back home and back to work. I lost my Daddy that February, I got there just a few days before but he had already slipped into a semi-conscious state. He knew I was there, I knew it when I picked up a swab dipped in ice water to run over his lips and he grabbed my hand and held on for dear life. This frail man was the man that always made ?time? for us so valuable.

Time is so short, shorter for some than others. Make the most of it. And another thing, keep your loved ones and role models alive, adopt a trait. Pass it on.

In Memory of?????.

Those Who Valued Time

Time?.What Is It's Value To You?

I was recently looking thru some old family photos and came across pictures of loved and lost ones close to my heart, when I realized I hadn't thought of this person or that person in quite some time. I got to thinking about the characteristics and traits of each one of those people. What was it about them that I missed the most? What was it about them that influenced me at the time? It was then that I wondered how my life would have evolved if I had incorporated some of those traits into my own life.

When we lose a loved one, everyone always says, ?they will always live on in your memories of them?. But I have found that as time moves on and our lives become busier than ever, we think less and less of those who have passed on. What if we were to take something we remember about that person, something that influenced us, and apply it to our own life? I don't mean that we have to step into that person's shoes and become someone we are not, but to simply enhance our own persona with a trait or tradition from a loved one or role model that impacted our lives. Not only would it help to keep our memories alive but it would also keep those characteristics alive long after we are gone.