When I was a young boy, we traveled more than a 100 miles in an un-air-conditioned car in the South Carolina summer heat to visit my widowed grandmother. Instead of the expected words of welcome she said, “Be quiet. ‘The Guiding Light,’ is on.” She traded time with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren for an imaginary family.
My daughter from out-of-state is here this week to celebrate her birthday. We will celebrate at dinner with her brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. We postponed the celebration a day so that her nephew could be present. I am grateful for this opportunity to be together. Who is missing? Her mother, who is with her ancestors, but very much in our hearts.
The moral of this story. Don’t squander the time you have with family and friends by being on your cell phone or scrolling through Facebook. The incident with my grandmother occurred decades ago. I remember it as though it happened this morning. We may think that we have all the time in the world. We don’t. We have this moment. It will not come again.
I am not being morbid. I am offering a simple statement of fact. Do not swap what you have for an episode of, ‘The Guiding Light.’
