Every day, there are big things going on all around us. At least we let ourselves believe they are big things. There’s that person at work who’s not pulling their share of the weight. The neighbor who is doing a better job of landscaping than you are. The friend who buys better brands of clothes than you. The person we barely know who’s child got into a better college than ours. The girls at the health club who are skinnier than you. You get the picture, right?
Then something happens to snap us back to reality and the truth. Sometimes, it’s faraway like Newtown, but sometimes it hits close to home. That’s what happened to my family. We have a friend in the throws of a very serious and unexpected medical crisis.
As I sat at our breakfast table Christmas morning with our children and grandchildren, tears came to my eyes very quickly as I thought about our friends. They weren’t sitting at their table celebrating with their children and grandchild. They were sitting around a hospital bed praying for a Christmas miracle.
As I listened to the laughter and watched the smiles of my family, I couldn’t help but think about how blessed I am. 42 years ago, it started out with a first date with my husband and all these years later, there are 13 of us. Everyone of us happy and healthy.
I wonder why it is that it usually takes something bad to happen for us to remember that the biggest things in our lives are really the little things? The kisses from a grandchild, the phone call from an old friend, the quick hug from a husband. A night out with your daughters, finding your favorite coffee on sale, a walk in the dunes. The little things.
As the new year approaches, I don’t make resolutions. I set new goals. My number one goal for 2013 is to remember the little things, to seek them out and savor them. To remember that those little things are really the big things. That big, sloppy kiss from a candy covered three year old is such a little thing, but of my gosh, it’s so, so big!