Give All Of Yourself To Those You Love

When I was pregnant with Bunny, I had to stop watching and reading the news.  I couldn't stomach the cruelty and violence that played out every night in sound bites and breaking news.  This is a cruel world we live in folks.  People hurt people.  People kill people.  People die from natural and man-made disasters.  People die from cancer and other illnesses. And children aren't spared.  Children are abused and neglected and hungry and sick and die every day.  And in my heightened hormonal state, I would be in whimpering tears in a matter of minutes wondering what right I had to bring a baby into all of this.

I can watch and read the news now, of course.  It isn't that the world has gotten any better, but my hormones aren't as raging and I'm better able to compartmentalize my raw feelings about these tragedies and disconnect them from my day to day life.  But some things I see?  Well, they bring down all my neatly compartmentalized walls and shine the truth on some ugly realities.

This beautiful woman?  She (as you can see from the video above) was a mother, a sister, an artist, a friend, a wife and so much more.  And yesterday morning, she passed away from Ovarian Cancer.   I don't know her.  You probably don't know her either, but this video just breaks me.   She looks like she was a good mother - you can see the love she has for her sons.  You can imagine how heartbroken they all must be from her loss.  And you can probably imagine, like I do, how easily it could be you or someone you know.  Your mother.  Your sister.  Your friend.

Bug and Bunny and maybe even LW and GG and The Hubs, must be sick of how many times a day I tell them I love them.  I wonder if they realize that it's not a "habit" or something I say just to fill the silence - Bunny in particular likes to roll her eyes at me most of the time I say it.  I tell them every day all the time, so if something ever happens, they'll know without a doubt, I loved them.  And I've told each of the kids, at one time or another, that even when I'm angry, even when I'm yelling, even when I'm handing down punishment.. that I never stop loving them.  I don't want them to doubt.  Not ever.  Not even for a second.   I can't shield my kids from the bad things in this world.  Eventually they'll really understand how "unfair" life can be.  But I can love them.. and hold them.. and show them in every way that they are cherished.  They are loved.  And I can make it so they'll never doubt me.  Never doubt our family.  Never doubt us.  Hopefully that will be enough to get them through whatever chaos they face in life.   

The world is still a scary and sad and dangerous place and while I can turn the other way and not look it right in the eye, the realities of an unfair world are unchanged.  I'm not about to get on my soap box and rage the question of why we can't all just get along, or why we can't find a cure for these terrible diseases.  Don't worry, that's not what this is about.  This is about something simpler, and something you've probably heard before.

Life is short.. you never know when you're time is up. So give all of yourself to those you love - every minute, of every second, of every day.

Seriously.. Thoughts?